Take One For the Team
by jalapeno-sama
Summary: AU Nicercy. Nico's family is loving, wealthy, and thriving. Percy's is... not. When Hades di Angelo decides to sign his family up for a foundation that homes 'troubled families' with loving ones to counsel them into having a healthy home life, Nico ends up living with the captain of the swim team.
1. Meet the Family

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

 **Summary: AU Nicercy. Nico's family is loving, wealthy, and thriving. Percy's is... not. When Hades di Angelo decides to sign his family up for a foundation that homes 'troubled families' with loving ones to counsel them into having a healthy home life, Nico ends up living with the captain of the swim team.**

 **In this chapter, we meet all the characters. I borrowed the structure of Nico's family from TakaraPhoenix.**

* * *

"Dad," Nico deadpanned, mouth slightly agape. "That's _insane._ Actually crazy. Who the hell knows who we're about to be living with for the next three months?" He asked, throwing his lean, muscular arms around. Bianca, his older sister, nodded slowly.

"You know I usually approve of helping people... but helping others doesn't necessarily need to jeopardize _our_ family's safety," she said softly, displaying the peace-making skills that he's always envied so much.

"I think it's great," Hazel voiced tiredly, rubbing her eyes and shaking her caramel hair wildly around her heart shaped face. "We're assisting another family, guys! What could possibly go wrong with this?"

"Not to choose any side," Thanatos spoke up, raising a hand defensively, "but saying things like _that_ will definitely make something go wrong. Murphy's Law. Other than that, though, I don't see anything hugely dangerous about this."

Nico felt like smacking his head into the kitchen table. Repeatedly. It was hard to place a finger on why _exactly_ he wasn't able to support the idea wholeheartedly; on one hand, yeah, he approved on the idea of putting good families together with messed up ones to teach them good habits or whatever. But on the other hand, he didn't see why it had to be _his_ family.

"We're part of a small fraction of the population able to help a family of their size," Hades said (reading his mind like always) with a small shrug, taking a sip of the black coffee that Nico knows must be scalding. He never understood how his dad could drink coffee that way, bitter and boiling. "And I was just telling you. Your objections won't stop it."

Letting out a small sigh was Bianca's only way of showing disappointment at her loss, which managed to pinch that _one nerve_ in Nico's mind. Bianca never raised her voice at anybody, even if they were screaming straight in her face or spitting on her shoes. Of course, neither had yet to happen, because of how amazing her skills were with diplomacy.

Part of Nico looked up to her, like any younger sibling was apt to do. The other part couldn't wait to see her finally explode.

"If my objections aren't going to make a difference, can I go out with my friends after school today?" Nico asked hopefully, already imagining the reactions he would get from Octavian, Lou, and Jason. _"You're fucking kidding,"_ Lou would say, snapping her gum and shaking her head slowly. _"Keep us updated, Nicky."_

"Of course," Hades responded after another mouthful of his disgusting coffee. "If you need a ride, call me, alright?"

Nodding in confirmation, Nico grabbed his phone to text Octavian, who had always been the best at organizing where the group would go.

 **-o0o-**

Percy was drowning in his sheets. He couldn't breathe.

It sounded poetic, and figurative, and a bunch of other English terms that he'd never had time to memorize for the quizzes that he failed every class. At least they couldn't kick him out of Goode High School, since he was their best swimmer and they wanted as many trophies as possible.

But the bottom line was, somebody was trying to strangle him with his sheets, and he knew who it was.

"Triton, _get off of me,"_ he snapped, raspy but firm, the only response being an annoyed grunt.

"I know it was you or Tyson who stole it, and I want the shirt back! It's _mine,_ I paid money for it, and I want to wear it today!" Triton raged, shaking Percy's head a few times. For a moment, Percy imagined his head as a grape, red tinted and about to burst. He would have laughed if it wasn't so close to reality.

As hard as it was to believe most days, Triton was actually the oldest of Poseidon's children at age 27. He took a few years off of school to have a 'wilderness sabbatical'. Twice. So he was still completing college, and therefore unable to be kicked out of the Jackson homestead. As a matter of concrete fact, there was only one thing protecting Triton from indefinite banning.

His protection came in his blood; Triton was the only biological son of Poseidon's actual _wife,_ Amphirite.

Triton let out a huffy scoff, climbing off of Percy to storm out of the room he shared with all of his brothers, promising pain and eternal suffering as soon as he found sufficient evidence that Percy was the one who abducted the shirt in question. Percy touched his neck a few times, then shrugged. Not bad; just a little sore, and certainly not enough to bruise.

Once the blood stopped pounding in his ears, Percy could hear distant yelling coming from the two loudest in the apartment. Surprisingly, even though Triton earned the trophy for Most Annoying, he missed the Loudest Brother award by a landslide.

There was a constant tension between Ephialtes and Arion, 24 and 25, and Percy was sure that even _they_ didn't understand what started it anymore. They'd both grown up in the background, watching Triton be babied and adored, and eventually their competition for second place snapped something inside of them.

Ephialtes, on the pudgy side, took after his mother in every way with his sandy blond hair and muddy hazel eyes. He was a semi-professional wrestler, meaning that he was unemployed and _just missed_ the bar for professional wrestlers. Arion was long, lanky, and hyperactive, finding time to make a new cup of coffee whenever his mug emptied itself. He was the kind of guy who could be happy and smiling one moment and ready to bite heads off the next.

Needless to say, his silver tongue and willingness to offend got Ephialtes going something fierce, and if nothing else, they could be okay entertainment if the TV was broken from being smashed with yet _another_ poorly aimed remote toss.

He could hear their sputtered and screamed words spilling from the family's new favorite argument: who was going to pick up a few extra shifts at work to get the money to turn on central heating again. The air was starting to carry just enough of a nip to be annoying. Percy's favorite argument was Ephialtes', since the guy always seemed to come to the conclusion that Tyson had reached the age where he would need to earn his keep.

If was funny to him, mostly because Tyson was his favorite, a shining light in his hectic world, and if anybody wanted to push him they would need to get Percy out of the way first.

When it got to the stage at which arguments devolved into personal blows, _(Oh yeah? Well your haircut is dumb!)_ Chrysaor would swoop in and break it up. He and Percy traded off the responsibility of keeping the general peace, and in three days, it would be his turn in the cycle.

Chrysaor was... well, he was one of the better Jacksons, Percy supposed. 22 years old and struggling in art school with metal working and sculptures, Chrysaor was addicted to cigarettes like Arion was addicted to coffee, but much less obvious about it. Chrys always managed to fade into the backdrop if he so desired, somehow making Arion's mug more apparent than the smoking object propped between his fingers.

Footsteps approached the door, and Percy reached towards the nightstand for Chrys' art history book, 500 pages long and hardcover, in case it was Triton coming back with the proof that he had touched his shirt.

(Which he hadn't. The shirt in question was made out of what felt like spandex and featured a night sky, not exactly something Percy was interested it.)

Instead, Tyson walked in, chocolate brown eyes looking worried.

"Is he gone? Did he try to kill you?" He asked, glancing around like Triton could be hiding anywhere. Percy smiled at his baby brother, then ruffled his hair.

"He's not here, he went off to find proof that I stole his shirt," he said with a wink. "And Triton couldn't kill me if he tried," Percy teased confidently, liking the way Tyson's face would beam when he thought Percy was invulnerable. Not that that was a lie, exactly; Percy could clean up shop if necessary. Their area was full of bad people, and even if he wasn't winning any judo competitions, he could fight in that raw, scrappy way that most kids in the area could.

"Why doesn't Tri just leave if he doesn't like us?" Tyson pouted, pulling on Percy's arm to signal that he wanted to swing. Percy shrugged, lifting his arm to a 90 degree bend and allowing his youngest brother to grab on with both hands, rocking back and forth as Percy started off towards the kitchen. Tyson was only nine, and a surprise to every member of the family.

After Percy was born and dropped with Poseidon, nobody else showed up with a crying baby and smeared mascara for a long time, and Amphirite was absolutely sure that no other bastards were coming to ruin her life further.

Then, suddenly, there he was, with big brown eyes and chestnut hair, looking nothing at all like Poseidon. Amphirite thought the woman who delivered the boy must have been _seriously shitting them, I mean, look at it, it doesn't seem like you at all!_ After all, her husband didn't even remember the encounter from which Tyson had resulted.

Percy could only imagine how happy that made the boy's mother.

Then, though, the resemblance shone through in one telltale way.

Tyson managed to keep the entire apartment from sleeping for almost four months with his incessant cooing, crying, and needy whines. Poseidon got that shine in his eye, the kind that meant that he was _almost_ proud of one of his children for something (because god forbid he was _actually_ proud of them). He was a fussy baby too, apparently. And that meant that Tyson must have been his son.

Amphirite was a wall of frigid fury. Triton, Ephialtes, and Arion turned their backs on the idea of another brother, and Chrysaor was as ambivalent as ever. And Percy? Well, he was saddled with taking care of the baby, even though his eight birthday had just barely passed.

But sometimes, stars can align _just so,_ and good can come from chaos. And one night, while Percy nodded off with his head against the window of the room full of sleeping brothers, Tyson in his arms, a small hand reached out and poked him straight in the eye.

And Percy knew that Tyson had chosen him as his favorite.

* * *

Child Services knew the Jackson family well enough. The first time they got involved was when Triton and Ephialtes got into their first physical fight, after which they both sported split lips, ugly black and green bruises crawling across their skin like moss, and attitudes even pissier than usual. That, of course, meant _abuse._

In a way, maybe it was.

Percy had never really thought about it that way until later, but Poseidon was _right there,_ and he certainly didn't try to stop them. Just looked around their struggling bodies to watch the whale documentary on the TV. Percy was only five at the time, but the memory had an odd clarity in his mind. Triton came running into the apartment, slammed the door, and shook his head.

"They think we're being abused," he choked out, panting. "The teachers, at school. I think they're gonna send somebody."

Even at that young an age, it was easy to take a slow breath and glance around the apartment, at all of the empty beer cans, some of which left by young Triton and Arion; at stained walls with chipping paint and unfixed holes; towards the bathroom, with more than a few bottles of prescription medication with names that didn't belong to anybody in the apartment. And, inevitably, towards the two bedrooms, one for Poseidon and Amphirite, and the other in complete shambles.

Poseidon looked more inspired than any other time Percy could remember. He chugged the last of the beer in his can, crushed it in one hand, then threw it into the trash. "We've got to clean this shit up."

And they did.

Not once were they charged with abuse or neglect, all because of an innate ability present in the Jackson bloodline - the ability to lie. Percy couldn't even begin to list how many times he'd used it at school; _Sorry, Mrs. Thompson, I couldn't do my homework because my brother Triton was hurt very badly yesterday, and I... I just..._

He was given homework passes, quiz passes, and the more sympathetic teachers even offered their personal help with his grief. So Percy stayed after class for counseling, then went home and walked past a perfectly healthy Triton, without a hint of remorse.

One thing, one impossible thing, was overlooked.

Child Services, of course, had sister companies that had no age boundaries, and instead involved entire families. And of course, being one of the first names on the 'watch' list meant that the Jacksons were chosen to be part of an experimental new project that paired healthy, normal families with cluster-fucks like them.

"This is insane. I don't understand why _I_ need to be a part of this garbage; I'm an _adult,"_ Triton said, putting up a hand and flicking in during both syllables in the word 'adult', as if accentuating them would somehow make the statement true. Arion snorted.

"'I'm an adult'," he mocked with an eye roll. "You contribute nothing to society, and can't even to a load of laundry right. If you're an adult, I'm dating Zoe Hesperide." The insults flooded off of Triton's shoulders as they were apt to do, and Percy glanced anxiously at his father's eyes.

(Percy liked to imagine that, in the past, Poseidon's eyes used to change like his. Maybe when he only had Triton, Amphirite, and a good apartment for a three member family. Maybe when he was his age, maybe when he was a young boy. When, he didn't know, but at some point Poseidon had been alive.)

The smack of Poseidon's calloused, ring-laden hand against their cheap wooden table, hard enough to leave indents behind in the material, yanked his family back into the moment.

"Who are we going to be staying with?" Percy risked, holding eye contact with his father without flinching. His father's eyes reminded him of many things, but two most of all; rugged slate, two dimensional and blank, almost ice covered, and broken glass, sharp and hard to leave behind.

"Hades di Angelo, and his lovely family," Poseidon drawled, the name an echo on his lips. Chrys looked surprised.

"You mean the rich guy who owns half of the world?" He asked with an odd look. A good hyperbole, Percy thought. Quite a shame that Chrys didn't want to pursue writing, the one thing he was good at.

(If Percy knew one thing, it was to stick with what he was _good_ at, not what he dreamed of, shady and uncharted territory.

Which was why he stuck with swimming. There was nothing wrong with swimming, and he was great at it. And that was good enough for him. What else was he going to find that he was good enough at to get comments from coaches telling him he was sure to go onto the Olympics? He knew when dreams were unattainable, and for him, being a marine biologist was just that.)

Percy recognized that name from somewhere, and it wasn't just from the billboards in the city or the labels on nearly everything. He knew it _personally,_ but the context escaped him. Maybe somebody from school? But then, who did he actually talk to at school?

There was Luke Castellan, the captain of the basketball team. He was an incorrigible asshole, but he was an asshole who Percy liked being around and knew from before high school. Thalia Grace was the leader of many off-white extracurricular sports, like discus, archery, and rock climbing, as well as one of the strongest people he knew.

There was also Annabeth Chase, who Percy thought of as his secret best friend. They never spoke in school, but sometimes, an indulgent nod would be shared after looking cautiously in all directions. High school was inherently judgmental, so around her friends, Annabeth thought Percy was _an annoying idiot who just can't think for himself,_ and to Percy, she was _a frigid princess that needs to look up from her books and smell the roses._

Outside of school, they got along famously. Their strengths filled each other's gaps to perfection, platonic soulmates to a tee.

Certainly no di Angelo's, unfortunately.

Poseidon took that moment to interrupt Percy's contemplation and leaned forward into the table. "If we can act like a normal family while we're with the di Angelos, then all of this bullshit with these different corporations can end. Understood?" He said. "That means no fighting, no tantrums, nothing out of the ordinary."

"No... fighting?" Ephialtes asked slowly, looking stumped. He was a flickering bulb in any case, but this was _revolutionary._

Argument and debate was essential to their lifestyle. Apology was a cardinal sin, and being correct was something to be celebrated to the highest degree. Poseidon believed in a strict code of self-expression, raised by a family who thought that holding oneself back resulted in people too mellow to succeed.

"So... we'll be like spies?" Tyson posed tentatively, and Poseidon nodded.

"Are we together on this?" He asked, and Tyson placed his hand in the middle of the table.

Percy could never say no to his little brother. "Seems like a great idea," he agreed. Arion and Ephialtes tried to put their hands in at exactly the same time, and only a glare was exchanged before Ephialtes put down his hand first and Arion placed his palm a millimeter over it. _Immature and obnoxious,_ Percy thought fondly.

Triton put his hand next, making a big show of rolling his eyes and muttering something about how stupid they all were. Poseidon's eyes closed, and Amphirite grasped his hand and added them to the pile.

"This is a shit plan," she said with an air of finality. "But it's really all we've got."

* * *

"So you have no idea who's going to be staying in your house?" Lou said, perfectly sculpted eyebrow raising near her hairline. Lou was gorgeous, by all standards, with dark eyes, dark hair, and plump lips. "You're fucking kidding. Remember to keep us updated, Nicky."

No gum, but he'd been close.

Nico nodded, sipping his drink. He and his close friends were at the local sandwich place, since they had one of the soda machines with 300 different flavors. He was popular enough at school, being tall, rich, and good looking (that was Lou's logic, anyway), but he had few close relationships.

Lou was gorgeous, by all standards. And maybe Nico could date her like everyone at school thought he should if he wasn't gay.

(His classmates didn't know, and if all went well, they never would. His close friends knew and were supportive, and that's what mattered. People liked to say that they're totally not homophobic and it's fine to be gay, but as soon as they're near a person with a sexuality that isn't their own, they're stammering messes.)

"They've got to live in the area, though, right?" Octavian rationalized, looking very much the part of student council president with his dress-shirt sleeves rolled up. "And they have to have family members with ages close to your family's ages. Maybe it's somebody from our school," he said, English accent coming through.

"Oh yeah," Jason replied, looking up from the English reading he was supposed to complete three days prior but put off due to football practice. "Somebody in the area with kids. There's little to no chance that they're from our school; the improbability is too great."

Octavian rolled his eyes and took a large bite of sandwich, unable to come up with a good rebuttal. Lou, though, happened to have a great one.

"Little to no chance, maybe, but still a chance. So, who could it be from Goode?" She posed, slipping her iPhone into her hand and opening the note app to copy down any particularly good guesses.

"What about those kleptomaniac twins?" Octavian asked, looking annoyed. "They tried to screw with my campaign last year."

"The Stolls?" Lou confirmed, watching Octavian nod slowly. "They're not twins. Travis is actually a year older than Connor, even thought they're damn near identical. I'll put them down. It would make sense, I guess; Hazel's a year younger than you, right, Nico?"

"Yeah," Nico said, thinking about what living with Travis and Connor would be like. "Anyone else?"

An entire list later, Nico still felt no better. In his mind, there was something missing, somebody that he wanted to place. Somebody in his mind that he knew belonged on the list. But he couldn't find them.

 **-o0o-**

"Your laughing is much appreciated, buddy," Percy said wryly, punching Luke in the arm weakly. He was annoyed, but not enough to actually hurt somebody (he did _not_ have anger issues, despite what his previous school guidance counselors may say).

"I'm sorry," the blond lied, wiping his watery eyes. "But I just can't imagine your family living with the fuckin' di Angelos."

"Wait," Annabeth interrupted, looking up from the couch. "The di Angelos? Why didn't you _start_ with that! The di Angelo kids go to our school. Well, two do - Nico and Hazel. Hazel's in our grade," she said with a look of disapproval. "How don't you remember them, Perce?"

"I think the real problem child here is you, Annie," Thalia argued. "There was a whole group message going on with this in it," she said, waving her phone to accentuate the point. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Please. As if I check that; _none_ of you know when to stop, and I value my sanity above all else," she scolded, making Luke scratch the back of his neck sheepishly.

They were in Luke's room, medium sized and crammed with furniture. Luke lounged on his sunken bed, and Thalia and Annabeth shared his small couch, tangled together comfortably. Percy had spread himself out on the ground, enjoying the feeling of a magazine hitting the small of his back. It was nice and cool.

"God, Percy. You're the captain of the Goode High Swim Team, and it isn't like Nico's invisible to any degree. He may not do any sports, but people still love his 'charisma' or 'bad boy looks' or something like that," Annabeth explained, a fake look of disappointment on her face. Thalia clicked her tongue.

Percy, for his part, covered his face with his hands in dramatic agony. "Somehow, my worst case scenario is coming to life before my eyes," he said sarcastically, withholding a groan. "Not only is my goddamn wreck of a family going to be seen by somebody at school, they're going to be seen by somebody _well known_ at school. Amazing."

"I thought you said you had a plan," Luke said, propelling himself off of his bed slightly to jab Percy's arm with his foot.

Percy considered. "I worry about the probability that we'll mess that up," he admitted. "You guys know my family; restraint isn't a strong suit, and we only have two days to practice."

"Two days?" Annabeth seemed alarmed. "That sounds like way too short a notice to be legal."

"The letter was sent earlier, but we only check our P.O. box once every two weeks, since nobody wants to go do it," Percy groaned.

"Well hey, good luck," Thalia said. "At least you still have us, your great friends!"

Percy traced patterns in Luke's ceiling with his eyes and steeled his nerves.


	2. A Day In the Life

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Some Nicercy in this chapter. And yes, this story is going to be Nicercy, _not_ Percico. :)**

 **(Text in bold is in Greek.)**

* * *

On a list of actions scaling from EATING CAKE to BEING STABBED THROUGH THE CHEST, school was almost pathetically low. It wasn't the people or the learning that got to Percy, exactly, unlike his friends. He was perfectly willing to admit that it was _his_ fault that school was so painful.

Dyslexia and ADHD were a hassle to deal with on a good day, and in Percy's life, the days which one could safely call 'good' were few and far between.

When the universe convened to create him as a person, one of the _powers that be_ must have been drunk, or stoned, or just plain _bored,_ and decided _hey, why not make this person's life thirty times worse? Wouldn't that be funny?_

And then, just to put the icing on the cake, the stars aligned just so to give him the astronomically low provision of being taught English as his _second language._ He was blessed with the shittiest of luck, sent by God himself.

"Just sound it out," Luke said, per usual, shrugging in a way that suggested he knew how worthless his advice was. Yeah, Percy could take medication for the ADHD, but _nothing_ could unscramble the mess of letters that emerged every single time he glanced at a word. Or worse, a _sentence._

"Oh yeah," Percy said with a slow nod. "I don't know _what_ I would do without you, Luke. Your advice is both helpful and duly noted," he said sarcastically.

Luke laughed, holding up his hands in surrender.

"No need to thank me, boy wonder," he replied, but not cruelly. He was a good friend to have. "And you seem to be extra witty with your retorts today. Is it because you're going to be moving into a mansion this afternoon?"

"Saying it like _that_ makes it sound cool," Percy said dryly. "You're forgetting what a train wreck my family is. This morning we tried to lay the groundwork for plan Act Normal, and you can guess how well that went."

Luke leaned against the locker next to Percy's, sparing no mercy for the poor soul struggling to work up the confidence to ask him to move. "The vote is in, and the ballot says...?"

"We aren't allowed to physically injure each other, we aren't allowed to purposefully attack each other with words, and we aren't allowed to argue about 'trivial garbage'," Percy listed. Luke frowned, a pucker appearing between his eyebrows.

"What are you guy's going to _do?"_

Percy shot him a look.

"Point taken," he smiled, before continuing, "and does Mr. Jackson know about this?" Luke asked skeptically, which was understandable. Percy scoffed, glancing at the clock on the wall and shoving his history homework (read: crumpled mess of paper) into his bag.

"As if," Percy said, "I'm not an idiot, and he's gonna find out eventually, but it sure isn't gonna be from _me._ My face is a national treasure, and I don't need his anger directed at it just yet," he joked with a broad gesture at his head.

"Okay, sonny. I'm sure everything will work out just fine," Luke said in the voice of an old man. He was a senior, making him two years older than Percy, and took great pleasure in lording his seniority over his younger friends. "Oh, and _I_ like your face too, darling." A wink. A roll of eyes.

(It was always that way with Luke; harmless flirting, sometimes by one party, sometimes being thrown back and forth by both. Luke did swing both ways, but Percy had never had feelings for anybody. It felt good to joke around, to flip his hair and look over his shoulder and know that he wasn't being taken seriously.)

"You've got quite a nice setup yourself, dearest," Percy responded, slinging his bag over one shoulder. Putting his backpack on both shoulders was both a good idea and a waste of energy.

"You wouldn't be struggling this hard if you did your homework at home instead of before school," Luke sang lightly, earning a sharp elbow to his ribs and a sharper look.

"Strong words from a guy still in a sophomore math class. Besides, I couldn't if I tried. For whatever reason, there were _metal shavings_ on the table yesterday."

"Chrys is still doing that sculpture thing?" Luke asked, surprised. Percy was too, honestly.

Chrys was, on Percy's scale of older brothers, one of the best. But that didn't make him perfect. He had a horrible habit of frequently finding new interests, then wasting time, money, and other such valuable resources on supporting them before moving on abruptly. 10 was judo. 11 was football, followed closely by 12, which was the culinary arts. 13 was _rollerblading,_ 14 was interior design, 15 was writing (the one everyone honestly thought he would stay with), 16 was cars, and 17 was philosophy, of all things. Finally, 18 rolled around, and so did sculpting.

The metalworking thing wasn't a surprise to anybody in the family. What was surprising was his ability to stick with it for three whole years. Ironically, his skill level with sculptures was dismally low, whereas he actually made a decent philosopher, a fair designer, and an above average chef.

"Wait... have you talked to di Angelo yet?" Luke asked suddenly, looking pensive. Percy shook his head.

"Why would I?" He asked, lost. In the end, why would it matter? He would be meeting him soon anyway. Very soon. _Too_ soon.

"You know, to tell him that if he says anything about you guys you have friends willing to make him disappear," Luke suggested with a wiggle of his eyebrows. Percy scoffed. Luke's grandfather, Kronos Castellan, was a prominent businessman and frequently dipped into the illegal. Working with drugs and firearms wasn't nearly as glamorous as the TV shows made it seem, but it presented a steady stream of work.

(There would always be people who wanted to take advantage of the weak, and Percy refused to be one of the stragglers left behind.)

"I'm sure that would go swimmingly. You know his dad started off as a lawyer, right?" Percy said. Luke laughed again.

"What, you look him up on wikipedia?" He teased, and Percy nodded shamelessly.

"I was curious."

"You realize that anybody can change those articles, right?" Luke said, and it was Percy's turn to chuckle at that.

"I don't think any evil liars are trying to make Hades di Angelo look better on wikipedia," he snarked, and Luke chuckled.

"Just remember, if you ever need a break, just give me a call." Luke Castellan was a very good friend to have indeed.

 **-o0o-**

"Him? Oh yeah, he used to be a huge tool. I mean, you guys might not remember him as well as Tavy and I, since you were only freshman when his evil reign was strongest, but he used to really blow. For whatever reason, though, Captain Douche-Canoe decided to clean up his act," Lou said, snapping her gum. Nico liked when she did that; he admired it, in a way. He'd never gotten the hang of or understood how to snap gum.

"Captain Douche-Canoe - a title both lovely and fitting," Octavian chuckled, before glancing at Nico and Jason. "I always forget that you're younger than us. Not a bad thing, of course. But I suppose he really did shape up and clean up his act, didn't he? I heard his basketball career got even better after he stopped being such an asshole too."

"Two years clean of assholery... wait, didn't he start hanging out around that guy from the swim team around then?" Jason added, legs bent to rest on the shelf under Nico's chair, elbows on his knees. "I don't know him personally, but Jake Mason is on the swim team, and he says that he's actually really chill, if not a little private."

"Look, Jace, I'm not saying that I don't trust the info you get from your football buddies, but I totally don't trust the info you get from your football buddies," Lou said bluntly. Jason's arms went slightly limp as he pouted in Lou's direction. "I like to form my own opinions about people. Besides, there's something abnormal about him. He's part of Luke's group, but there's literally no rumors about him. What gives?"

Luke's group.

In Goode's past, there was a single popular crowd, but recently, it divided into four or five smaller cliques. Personally (and on a very clearly biased scale), Nico thought that his friends were the greatest - they didn't get involved in other people's business, and didn't treat others badly. It sucked that Reyna moved to California, and that they could only see Hazel and Frank at lunch, but it didn't really matter. At least they still talked.

"Percy Jackson," Lou drawled softly. "He probably has the public wrapped around his pretty little finger," Lou decided, tapping her chin. Jason looked distinctly impassive, choosing to cross his arms.

"Pretty, Lou? Seriously?" He said, and Lou nodded.

"Yes, Jason, _pretty._ Octavian, you're the President of this shitshow. You must've seen him. What do _you_ say?"

Octavian seemed to contemplate for a minute before shrugging. "Yeah, I guess he is. I think it must be the hair, or the eyes. He's got messy hair, and his eyes are kind of blue-green. He's a great swimmer, too. I'm obligated to go to some of their national meets, and he's always a standout. Scouts think he could make it to the Olympics," he said, giving a full biography instead of a distinct opinion.

"As unnecessary as 80% of that was," Lou said, "Octavian agrees. Seriously, Nicky, if you saw him, you would understand. He's got the looks, but none of the drama. I can't stand not knowing!" She paused, glancing around the classroom that was still otherwise empty. "I don't get _this,_ either. Why are we still alone? I mean, I know we only signed up from astronomy because nobody else ever does, but still, are we actually alone?"

She sounded excited by the prospect, as was Nico.

"Nope!"

The answer was sung, and the person who walked in next was the aforementioned asshole. Luke Castellan seemed to command attention to his very being, with pearly white teeth, hair that was spun gold rather than blond, and icy blue eyes.

(Nico tried his best to ignore it. Everybody did, out of some kind of twisted, accepted moral code that never needed to be spoken. But sometimes, his deep brown eyes would be pulled to the long, jagged scar running down the left side of Luke's face.)

"You've _got_ to be kidding me," Lou said, incredulous. "You?"

"I would appreciate a little more enthusiasm, Lou," Luke said with a disappointed look. "You know I love you. And I also know that there are no hard feelings for that time that I spilled lemonade on your shirt."

"It was an expensive shirt," Lou hissed, shaking her head. The puzzle pieces clicked into place in Nico's mind; so _that_ was why Lou still disliked Luke, even after his admirable attempt to fix his douchey-reputation.

"And I acknowledge that," Luke said, a hand over his heart.

(It was a tough match, those two. Lou really could hold a grudge, and coming from Nico, that meant a lot. She once gave her brother the cold shoulder for a year and a half for pushing her into a puddle and not apologizing with ample promptness. But Luke? Luke had just enough pride to not only prevent him from apologizing to Lou for what he considered a fault on both of their sides, but also to act like nothing was ever wrong.)

"We were just talking about you, actually. And about how much of an asshole you used to be. I just talked you up to my friends, but I don't know if you're worth it anymore," Lou said, crossing her arms resolutely as Luke approached them. She didn't really hate Luke, Nico knew; she just liked a good argument, and Luke was as sharp as they came.

Luke tossed his hardcover, star-decorated astronomy book down on the desk right next to Lou, sitting in a way that used an obnoxious amount of movement. It was his habit of grabbing attention yet again, Nico thought with a tiny, imperceptible grimace. "I have to say, Lou, I really do admire the amount of honesty you have. It's liberating. But I do like to think that I'm _not_ an asshole anymore."

"But you are admitting that you were? At one point?" Lou pressed, and Luke smirked.

"Well," he trailed, rubbing his chin and leaning back, "I guess I lied. I wouldn't say that I'm not an asshole now. But really, I am _so much better_ than I used to be. Acknowledge that one, right, Ellen?" He said. Lou shook her head.

"Don't call me Ellen, and I'll acknowledge that when you apologize for spilling your lemonade on me."

"Not to interfere in this otherwise... _captivating_ argument," Octavian interrupted, "but is this the entire class? Is it just us, and you?"

Luke placed _both_ hands over his heart then, falsely hurt. "Simmons, must you draw this line between us? Your chilliness wounds me. Also, no. We're not it. Somebody else is coming, if he can drag his ass here in time."

"A friend of yours, then?" Jason asked before Lou could, tone undoubtedly kinder than hers would have been.

"Yeah," Luke said, much more genuine now that he wasn't having an immature debate over something stupid. "You might know him, Grace. Percy Jackson, captain of the swim team?"

Lou sent Nico a look. The kind that meant _Nicky, this is a potential mate for one of us. I don't know who he goes for. Of if he's a serial killer, which I would like to find out before pursuing a relationship. And trust me, I will root out why there aren't any rumors about him._

As unbelievable as it was, Lou managed to have a different expression for just about every thought that entered her head.

"He should be in this class," Luke said, eyebrows furrowing. It pulled the scar for a moment, and Nico wondered if it hurt. "I don't have his schedule memorized, but I will. I _always_ do." It was a little creepy, the way he said that, Nico thought.

Apparently, somebody agreed.

"And you wonder why people talk about you behind your back," the person said, and the breath caught a little in Nico's throat when he looked up.

If the eyes were anything to go by, _that_ was Percy Jackson. Nico sent a fiery look Lou's way, speaking layers of betrayal. _You said he was attractive, you idiot! Not that he was a god!_

He was a little on the thin side, gaunt and lanky, but he had some muscle. His hair was black, and Octavian really hadn't done its styling any justice. That is, if it could be called 'styled'; he looked like he walked through a hurricane on his way to school, from his windswept hair to his dripping clothing.

"Not a good enough reason to besmirch my shining reputation," Luke said jokingly, taking his friend's appearance in stride. In Percy's hand, Nico noticed, was a bulging backpack. Luke noticed it too. "And did you really just go get more homework to do? How much do you have?" He asked.

Percy shrugged, nodding in the direction of Nico and his friends as way of greeting.

"You know I don't believe in doing homework at home. I just dropped off my math homework with a friend, and she should be able to help me take care of it. Plus, I'm almost done with that history packet. I'm just gonna finish it now, if it doesn't offend student council president Octavian Simmons," Percy said with a salute in Octavian's direction, sitting down next to Luke and pausing to wring some of the water from his grey t-shirt.

Out of his backpack came a packet Nico remembered being assigned to his sister two days prior.

"Almost done?" Luke said, rolling his eyes and looking over his shoulder at Percy. "It's a 13 page packet. You've read three paragraphs. Plus, after you read, you need to fill out a timeline. It's the last page, and before you ask, I know everything, and you should know better than to question me."

"You speak the truth, almighty wise one," Percy muttered. He flipped through the slightly soggy packet, nodding a few times. He looked up, visibly sheepish. "I know this isn't the best first impression of me, but I swear, I'm usually not _this much_ of a mess. I _maybe_ should've done this sooner, but I have a problem. I just... wait, what does that say?"

Luke leaned over, glancing at the word Percy pointed to, before nodding. "Bourgeoisie. Why are you even doing Russian history?"

"Last elective left. I always wait so I don't have too many options to choose from. I'd suffocate myself," Percy said simply, before turning back to Nico and his friends. Lou seemed to be scanning him for flaws, and Nico felt a twinge of pity for a second; Lou had a talent for picking out secrets, whether she chose to share them or not.

It was disconcerting to be on the other end of her stares. Always.

"You know what?" Percy suddenly spouted, looking back at the packet and flipping through the pages as best as he was able. "I should just bullshit the timeline now. At this point, my work will be just as good as if I actually read it."

"On the topic of your inadequacy," Luke began, earning a strange look from Jason, "What has you dripping? Or should I say _who,"_ he finished with a wink, and Percy flipped him off without looking back. Nico felt a flush starting at his chest and pushed it away before it hit his neck.

"I'm concerned about that as well, though you're free to ignore the last part," Octavian spoke as eloquently as always, putting on his 'president' mask of professional caring. "Did the sprinklers go off at this time? I know they're broken, but I didn't think something of this magnitude would occur."

Even Nico could tell Octavian was putting it on thick, and he rarely noticed the finer social cues of life.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Percy said without moving his eyes from his work. "It's not the sprinkler system's fault, it's my fault for making the man fixing the sprinkler system angry."

"You do have a talent for being annoying," Luke supplied, and Percy finally looked up to glance at his friend.

His eyes were flat. "As if you can talk."

"How the hell are you friends with him?" Lou asked, looking physically repulsed by each of Luke's comments, and Percy laughed. It was breathy and real, and Nico wished for a moment that his laugh was more like that; when he laughed he sounded like a faulty paper shredder.

"He takes getting used to, I know. I've been trying to rehabilitate him to make him easier to stand, but it's an ongoing issue." Jason took that moment to speak up.

"Well, it's still nice to meet you, Percy, even if you are covered in water," he said. Percy nodded.

"You too," he squinted at the 'student help group mandatory name tag' pinned on Jason's chest, "Jason Grace," he said, tone a strange mix of genuine and joking. "This might just make you all think even worse of me, but what is this class, exactly?"

 **-o0o-**

Percy Jackson was an enigma, Nico decided.

He liked him. Hopefully Lou wouldn't figure out that he was a serial killer in the past.

(And even if she did, would that stop Nico from wanting to get to know him?)

* * *

"How many shirts should I pack?" Triton wondered aloud, standing all too close to Percy. _We share a room, but we don't need to be two inches apart._ The room the boys shared was packed like a can of sardines, but it also managed to keep an aspect isolated privacy; they rarely visited the room at the same time, and when they did, they were sleeping.

"If only you had your favorite shirt, Tri," Arion's voice echoed across the small room. "Then _all of your_ problems would be solved."

"Yeah, if only," Percy said, sending Arion a murderous look.

Percy couldn't care less _what_ he wore; he didn't have a lot of clothes anyway, mostly because all of the money he made working was spent on school necessities, like pencils and a calculator, or life necessities, like shampoo and pizza. So instead of allowing his blood vessels to implode in the stress of it all, he shoved a few pairs of jeans, underwear, socks, shirts, and two good sweatshirts into a duffle bag.

Near perfection.

One last survey of his small corner encouraged him to pack the Greek philosophy book he read at night to bore himself to sleep (it managed to work, somehow) and his phone charger - he'd managed to save up a hell of a lot of money for his phone, and he wasn't about to lose the use of it because he forgot his charger.

Percy wasn't a conceited person by any means, but realistically, he felt that his family might collapse without him. If he _didn't_ feel that way, maybe he would have taken Luke up on his offer to grab Tyson and leave to stay with him every once in awhile. But two things stopped him.

One was the fact that he _loved_ his family, with all of their quirks and eccentricities. The other would be that he didn't want to be owing Kronos Castellan any more debts than he already did.

Sometimes they sent him to the 24 hour convenience store to but whiskey and Lucky Charms, sometimes they made him want to slam his head into a wall, and sometimes they even tried to kill him with his own damn sheets over a lost shirt. They were idiots, and they were stubborn, but so was he.

What kind of family didn't have their flaws?

"Now," Poseidon said as his sons entered the living area, carrying four bags with ease, "from what I understand, certain rules have been established as a code of conduct while at the di Angelo residence. Correct?"

Percy looked at Triton with his eyebrows raised. _The plan not to tell their father had certainly derailed in record time._ Triton sighed, looking at least a tiny bit ashamed. "Sorry folks," he said. "I cracked under the pressure of being engaged in such intense eye contact. He could smell my fear," he said. Poseidon nodded, looking vaguely proud of himself.

"I have to say, it's a good idea. But Triton did refuse to tell me whose idea it was in the beginning. And if anybody is willing to confess right now, then they get to sit in the front of the cab," he said. Nobody spoke up, suddenly interested in admiring the ugly, puke-colored carpet and the numerous coffee stains permanently imprinted on the walls.

Poseidon looked annoyed but not surprised, although that expression wasn't much different than his other ones.

"If nobody confesses, can I sit in the front?" Ephialtes said instead of answering, to which he got a stern head shake and a tongue click by Amphirite.

"Just for that," she drawled, "you get to hold Arion in your lap in the taxi."

Ephialtes was very clearly unhappy with that arrangement, as was Arion, but Amphirite was no longer paying attention to them. Percy's step-mother always had the distinct behavioral patterns of somebody who just couldn't be bothered, but that never upset him, not the way it upset the others. Amphirite had no good reason to care about him, and he had no real reason to care what she thought of him. The shared apathy was fine for both parties.

(Which was not to say that Percy was okay with the way she ignored Tyson, though he knew that was hypocritical. Whenever Tyson's school hosted conferences or singing concerts, Percy would show up for his little brother.

He was sure that half of the teachers thought that _he_ was Tyson's father. Maybe that's why they went a little easier on the kid. Well, Percy wasn't going to argue, and neither was Tyson, if he hadn't brought it up with him yet.)

"This is a punishment for _me,_ if anything, and I didn't even say anything!" Arion complained. Poseidon nodded.

"Right. You didn't say anything. And being a bystander is just as bad as committing a crime," he said with a glance at a smiling Amphirite. Arion sputtered.

"Nobody else said anything either!"

"That's why I have to sit in _Percy's_ lap in the taxi," Tyson said smartly, as if he wasn't planning on it before. "And Amphirite's gonna sit on Triton's lap because Chrys can 'get his own ride'," he cited. Percy leaned his arm on Tyson's shoulder.

"Very good," he said, grabbing both of their bags and hefting them up over his shoulder. "Hop on." Even with the added weight of Tyson on his back, Percy managed to keep up with the rest of his family.

The thought of looking back never crossed his mind.

 **-o0o-**

Nico was about to throw up his lunch. And his breakfast. Perhaps even some blood.

"What do you mean the family has six kids?" Thanatos asked in his place, looking around as if surveying his own siblings. "Damn! There are only four of us, dad - not enough to have each of us share with one!"

"I'm aware," Hades said with a shrug. "It isn't a big deal. We have so many extra rooms in this mansion, it's ridiculous. I only want some of them sharing rooms with you so you can be a positive influence, alright?"

"So two of them are just getting screwed over, is that what you're saying?" Nico asked, and Hades looked pensive before shaking his head no.

"The two oldest can room together. Easy solution."

"And who, exactly, _is_ this family?" Hazel decided to pipe in, while Bianca sat quietly, seemingly mulling over all of the information while calmly sipping a glass of ice water. Nico twitched at her perfection, still grudgingly admiring her every move.

"I believe their last name was... Jackson? Johnson? Something with a J," he said, and Bianca swallowed her water and shook her head.

"Dad!" She berated. "You don't know what their names are? I thought you said you were 100% prepared for this!"

"I am, I am!" Hades assured defensively, putting his hands up. Persephone snorted and shook her head good naturedly, bumping shoulders with her husband.

"No he's not," she said with a roll of her eyes. "His excuse was that when the family shows up, he's sure they'll introduce themselves, and that should give him a perfectly valid time to figure out their last name."

"Nice," Hazel said approvingly, and Hades beamed.

"See?" He said, jerking his thumb towards Hazel, "she understands. Hazel sees me for the genius that I am."

"Sure, dad," Thanatos said consolingly. "Sure. And hey, when are they-"

The doorbell rang.

Nobody moved.

"That's... probably them," Nico said dumbly, mind moving back to the 'Jackson, Johnson, whatever' spinning circles in his head. Percy Jackson really was something else. Nico usually hated slackers, but something about Percy was distinctly non-slackerish, even with all the classic symptoms he provided. And he had a strange charisma around him, one that was just pleasant to be around.

Unless that was Luke. Nico shivered.

He hoped it wasn't Luke.

"From what I read about how this whole... operation works," Hades said briefly, standing up and waving for his family to follow him, "they should be outside gathering their bags, and the case worker who set all of this up should be right outside now." He opened the door then, revealing a tall, smart-looking blonde woman with steely eyes and a tiny, curving smile.

"The di Angelo family. It's fantastic to see you again, Mr. di Angelo. And it's nice to finally meet the rest of the club. I'm Athena Chase," she said with a smile. There was something familiar about her, the cocky glint in her eye, the sharpness of her chin. "Now," she said, leaning closer and lowering her volume with a serious edge, "the Jacksons are a challenging family, and if you see _anything_ suspicious, I want you to contact me. Agreed?"

"Of course," Hades said, and as Athena led them towards the people who would be living in their house for the following months, Hades sent a victorious look at his family. "And now I know their last name," he sang quietly.

"Hades di Angelo, I assume."

As soon as Nico looked up at the man who spoke, he jaw dropped. It was Percy Jackson 25 years in the future, limited edition, just out of prison edition. _Wait... no way,_ Nico thought, connecting the dots. _He looks just like... but then..._ "Jackson," he muttered softly.

"That's me," Hades said amiably, shaking hands with the tall, intimidating man before him. Offhandedly, Nico noticed that even with long sleeves, the fact that the tattoos on the man's hands climbed onto his arms was obvious.

"Poseidon Jackson," he introduced, stoic. The person who Nico could only assume was his wife walked up and linked her arm in his, and a crooked grin lit up her pale pink lips.

"Amphirite, but you can use any nickname you can come up with. I know it's a mouthful," she said. Nico felt antsy - he needed to _know,_ needed to be _sure_ that the one who was staying in his house was, in fact, Percy Jackson. "Our kids are just sorting out who's carrying what right now," she said, and Hades smiled.

"Well, I'm sure mine can help with that. Why don't you guys go say hi?" He said, and Nico nodded, struggling not to look too enthusiastic.

"Alright," Bianca responded for all of them, walking off towards the single cab that somehow held the behemoth of a family that his father described. There was already audible chatter coming from the trunk of the car, but the voices were indiscernible until Nico was already close enough to see him.

"I can't hear you if I can't _see_ you," said a guy who looked to be in his 20's as he covered his eyes childishly. Nico exchanged a look with Thanatos. "So _ha."_

"That's... That's really not how it works, and I hope for your sake that you're kidding," answered a tall, bulky man who grabbed bags from the trunk of the car with impressive speed. A young child's laugh bounced off of the pavement.

"Hey," Thanatos finally called, causing a halt to all movement. "I'm Thanatos."

After a beat of awkward silence, Bianca picked up the hint. "Bianca. This is Hazel," she said, introducing the sister who was hiding in the folds of her own dress. Nico scanned each member of the family, meeting the suspiciously prepared eyes of Percy Jackson for a split second too long.

"I'm Nico," he introduced, and the guy with his hands over his eyes nodded without removing the extremities covering his face.

"Nice to know," he said bluntly before shaking his head. "I'm Triton, by far the best looking person in this family. Nice to meet you."

 **"Take your hands off of your face, idiot,"** barked the one holding a thermos, and Bianca looked fascinated by the variation in language. "Arion. Tired. Sorry."

"Ephialtes," said the trunk-unloader shortly. "I would say more, but I'm a little out of breath."

The youngest, an adorable little boy with shining eyes, waved both of his hands as he hopped out of the back of the car. "I'm Tyson, and that's Percy! There's also Chrysaor, but he's not here yet. He will be, though. He's not allowed to not come, I know because he checked."

"We all did, kid," Triton said, hands stationary on his face. Arion leaned over and pulled them down easily.

"You here to help with the bags?"

It was all he'd said so far, but Nico couldn't help but look at Percy as he grabbed two bags in each hand, a small smile on his face.

"Yep," chirped Hazel softly, edging back around Bianca now that it was clear that most of the Jackson children were not, in fact, frightening delinquents.

"Awesome," said Arion, grabbing a backpack with a coffee mug strapped to it from the taxi and slamming the trunk shut. He banged on the back window twice, and the cab drove off, leaving nothing but a surprisingly large stack of bags and ten children. "Grab whatever you want, but I'm gonna warn you now, Ephialtes' weigh twice as much as anyone else's."

"Hey!"

Nico grabbed three bags, then stood around for a moment, waiting for Bianca and Thanatos to grab some of the Jackson belongings and walk back towards the house before approaching Percy. "Hey," he said dumbly. Percy smiled at him.

"Nico di Angelo from astronomy class," he said with a small, pleasant laugh. "This is sure to be interesting, hm?"

As Nico walked closer to the front door with Percy and Tyson in tow, he couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with the Jackson family. Nothing seemed drenched in apparent wrongness like he'd assumed. In comparison to his own family, Percy and his brothers seemed to get along just fine. But who knew?

* * *

 **AN EXACT RECOLLECTION OF THE THOUGHTS IN EVERY SINGLE JACKSON HEAD**

 _Dear Lord, this is going to be difficult._


	3. Love Is A WWE Champion

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

 **Mentions of violence and relationships.**

Greek. I changed it because the bold looked really bulky and it annoyed me. Haha I'm pathetic

* * *

It became clear fairly soon that there was only one way to talk to Arion Jackson. Thanatos struggled at first - everything he said seemed to warrant an eye roll or a head shake or a displeased click of the tongue. But that was before picking up on Arion's drug of choice.

Coffee.

Arion had an obvious and unashamed addiction to the brew, so, with minimal guilt, Thanatos decided to Pavlov his new roommate. If he really loved a beverage so much, he might as well gain a friend from it.

(Plus, he was supposed to make sure he knew what Arion was doing at all times, by order of Mrs. Athena Chase.)

Every morning, right as Arion was stumbling down the grand di Angelo stairwell and into the tiled kitchen, Thanatos would present him with a nice, warm cup of coffee, in the mug that he brought from home. It was only a matter of time until Arion would begin to associate Thanatos with the joy of coffee, and then, Thanatos would have a perfect view into the life of the Jackson family. The fact that Arion was genuinely interesting was also a factor.

"I still can't believe you're tricking somebody into liking you with a hot beverage," Bianca said disbelievingly, tapping her foot gently as she sat next to her eldest brother. Thanatos laughed.

"Sometimes it's iced," he joked, earning nothing but a smile from his sister. "Besides. How far have you gotten with that Chrysaor guy without using any subliminal messages?"

"I've done very well getting along with him, actually," Bianca defended, smile growing. "He's quite the conversationalist. That is, when he's not taking a hack saw to a piece of sheet metal. We share an interest in design."

Thanatos could hardly hold back an eye roll. Bianca found a way to get along with anyone, even if they were her polar opposite. She never seemed to see people by their horrible attributes; instead, she somehow saw the beauty in every corner of the world. It was infuriating in a way, watching the ease with which she took to each and every human she came into contact with.

"I know Hazel loves Tyson, but how do you think Nico is doing with Percy?"

 **-o0o-**

The long weekend couldn't have chosen a worse time to sneak up on Nico di Angelo. Normally he would distance himself from the problem, but without the ability to run off and distract himself with his friends, he was stuck with nothing to focus on but Percy Jackson and the fact that he was sleeping in his room.

It was kind of horrible, in a way.

Actually, it _was_ horrible. What kind of depraved psychopath houses a troubled family and tries to have a relationship with one of them? That felt too close to taking advantage than he felt comfortable with. He didn't even know if Percy liked boys. The only thing that eased his conscience was the fact that he couldn't detect any inherent flaws within the Jackson family. He knew judgment would need to wait but at least there was no huge, pressing issue that needed to be addressed.

Percy had spoken with Arion the previous day, but it was in Greek, a language that Nico only just learned that the whole Jackson family was fluent in.

It was right after Percy had taken a shower. He was damp, with tiny droplets of water racing down each strand of hair, only to be dragged down by gravity and _plink_ onto the ground. A fluffy di Angelo towel draped itself languidly around his tapered waist, and Nico had to work double-time to keep his eyes on Percy's face. He wasn't a hormone crazed lunatic, after all. It seemed like a great time to change the topic from his roommate's lack of clothing, so Nico brought up what was in the back of his mind.

"Hey, what is it that you guys are talking to each other in? Just curious."

Nico barely felt like a creep at all.

Percy, luckily, didn't seem to mind in the slightest. He snapped, letting slip a knife-gash smirk that pulled up _just so_ on the right side of his face, abandoning the left side half a centimeter below. "Greek. We all speak it; it was my first language, you know. I've almost completely lost the accent." It was true. Unless he listened for it (and after finding out, listen for it he did, because the lilting tone always present in Percy's words was damn precious), the small tilt and change was nearly impossible to perceive.

No wonder why nobody else had ever questioned him about it. But the more Nico learned about Percy Jackson, the more he began to like him.

Not just as a potential boyfriend, either. Just as a person. In an organized list, there were exactly four things Nico found out about Percy that seemed to form a connection between the green eyed mystery and himself:

 **1\. Percy had ADHD, which explained why he could never seem to stay on one topic for too long and sometimes had to have phrases repeated to him multiple times. Nico didn't want him to keep apologizing for it, but he refused, saying that he, "Knew how annoying it was." Nothing about Percy was even remotely annoying.**

 **2\. Percy had dyslexia, which was why he didn't do his Russian History packet, and also why he rarely did his homework. With the ADHD, he indulged, it just became too much of a chore. Besides, he was a swimming prodigy anyway. As long as he kept his grades decent, he was set. And homework was only 10% of his grade.**

 **3\. Percy was a swimming prodigy. Not one of those small-town 'prodigies' who's only better than four other kids on a swim team, either; apparently, he'd gone into state meets and national settings and won gold medals. Over half the trophies in the Goode High Swim Team trophy cabinet had his name inscribed. He seemed embarrassed as he told Nico about his victories.**

 **4\. Percy Jackson adored Tyson, his little brother, more than the sun and the moon and the stars above.**

Still, both families needed some privacy, and that was provided for a two hour time slot each night. The size of the di Angelo mansion allowed for private time for everybody; as long as the Jacksons spent the bulk of their time interacting with the di Angelos, their good habits would rub off on them.

"You don't get it, Lou," Nico said over the phone that night when he was alone in his room. He could hear the moon outside the window, dripping onto the roof, and the stars mocked him where they stood. "He's perfect. I'm seriously wondering if it's even _possible_ for you to find any bad rumors about him because of his perfection. Trust in Jason's football friends for once, right?"

Lou seemed skeptical. He enjoyed the sound of her gum snapping through the phone. "Nico," she began gently, "You know I'm all for you loving whoever you want. But he's gotta be part of this whole 'bad family swap' thing for a reason. What if he's got anger issues or a drug problem that you don't know about?"

Nico rolled his eyes, and he was certain Lou could feel it. "Lou, he's been living in my house for two whole days. I think I would know if he was some kind of violent, drug crazed lunatic." He had been so immersed in his conversation with Lou, he hadn't heard his door open. He was lucky that Percy was so wonderfully accepting and willing to brush anything life could throw at him off of his shoulders.

"Violent, drug crazed lunatic?" The figure of Nico's obsessions asked, humor evident in his tone. He strode softly into the bedroom he was sharing with Nico, looking apologetic. "Sorry. I needed to grab my phone. But if you're talking about Triton, you got his character in one." He was kidding. It was obvious he was kidding because the joke drifted up from every single one of his pores, filling the air with a lightness Nico had never felt before.

(Or maybe that was just how Nico felt around Percy.)

As soon as the door shut, Lou was silent. That was bad, Nico knew, after years and years of being friends with the feisty Korean girl. "Oh my god," she said softly, a small laugh breaking through the phone. Nico squinted his eyes, sitting upright in his bed.

"What? What, Lou? What unfounded thoughts are you thinking right now?"

"Puppy love. Nico di Angelo, you have a crush on Percy Jackson. You think he's just the greatest thing since sliced bread. Right now, all you're seeing is the good, right? He's pretty, everything he does is golden, and the world is painted in rainbows. Tell me I'm wrong." He couldn't, and he didn't like her tone. It was condescending, it was humorous, and it was _correct._

"So? What does that have to do with anything?" Nico asked defensively, and Lou paused. The sound of her spitting out her gum meant that she was getting serious.

"According to the dating site I just opened up on my computer," Lou said knowingly, "You'll pick out the flaws in his character soon enough. And when you do, that'll either make you love him more or push him away. Ask him out."

The last comment came completely out of the blue, and Nico choked on a strand of spittle climbing down his throat. "What?" He croaked out, clearing his throat. "Lou. Seriously. I don't know if he likes boys. What if he's straight or ace or something? I don't want to make our growing friendship weird!"

"The dating site doesn't have any points for this," Lou said, uselessly, and Nico sighed.

"Well, what does Lou Ellen say?"

"Lou Ellen says that she's a horrible source of dating advice without the help of the internet and that if you really want person help you should call Jason. I'm good with complaining, Nicky, but you know I suck with advice. Especially romantic advice." Also true. Everything Lou said reflected a slice of truth, and Nico found it tiring sometimes. Couldn't he get away look at the world in a pair of rose colored glasses for once?

What was wrong with being blissfully unaware?

But he knew. He just didn't want to. "Ah, well. I'll talk to you later Lou, okay?"

 **-o0o-**

Percy didn't know how much longer he could last, and if he was close to breaking, he didn't want to think about the others. He was itching to get at Triton, mostly because he kept approaching him about the shirt. And Percy wasn't allowed to shove him or argue with him. Being so suddenly cut off from the chaotic, anything-goes world of his home was stifling.

"I'm starting to think this who pretending thing might not be smart," Triton said. And for the first time in a long time, Percy agreed with him. They were alone in the room together, resting on different couches in close proximity. "Y'know, there _are_ some things to fix in this family. What if we just let them help us?"

"Would they help us, though?" Percy asked, "Or would they just report us back to Athena? I mean... Dad's no saint, and neither are any of us. Digging too deep could bring up some bad shit. Things that could get all of us arrested and leave Tyson alone. And I don't know if the risk is worth... all of that."

"Yeah."

Triton seemed strangely resolute about the situation. Usually stressful topics made his forehead vein look about ready to burst, but the more time he spent with the di Angelos, the more time he spent quietly contemplating life. If the family was actually managing to keep him in order, Percy was willing to give them props. But he had a feeling it wasn't the family as much as the environment of peace.

Nico di Angelo was another topic altogether.

He was interesting, Nico, and not at all like some of the other popular kids at school. He was all for letting people live their lives however they wanted to - he wasn't going to knock down girls for wearing their makeup however they liked or having clothes that others might scoff at, and he wasn't going to judge boys for not having hyper-masculine tendencies or crying during a historical biography.

The one action he refused to condone was the probing of other people's lives. The searching, the dissecting, the _looking._ Why did humanity feel the need to search for flaws? It was ridiculous, and it was tiring.

On the topic of Nico, there were exactly three facts Percy managed to uncover about him all while telling the guy all the little easily shared tidbits of his own life:

 **1\. Nico loved Bianca very much, but there was some barely veiled envy harbored for her deep in Nico's mind, and Percy wasn't even sure that Nico himself knew the extent of it. It seemed that the love for his sister blatantly overpowered his longing to have what she did, and Percy found himself admiring that concept.**

 **2\. Nico played the bass guitar, and Percy very much wanted to hear him play something. Anything. He loved music, and the way that people play music can say a lot about them. Percy may have been able to speak two languages fluently, but one thing his ADHD never allowed him to do was play music.**

 **3\. Nico di Angelo was a wonderful person who accidentally did and said wonderful things all the time. He complimented his siblings as if his words meant nothing in the world, he picked up water bottles on the ground and put them into the garbage can, and he never failed to say 'I love you' when somebody he loved passed. That took courage.**

 **The ability to profess love and admiration so easily left Percy stumbling.**

Triton shattered his thoughts, a common occurrence. "You really love Tyson, don't you?"

Percy paused, not looking up from his phone but scanning his mind for a good answer. "Yeah," he finally said. "I really do. I mean, I care about the rest of you, but he just..." Percy waved vaguely with his hand, and Triton nodded.

"I felt the same way about Chrysaor when he was a baby," he said offhandedly, and Percy felt himself tense. "I was too young when Ephialtes and Arion arrived, but I was just old enough to care about Chrys. I thought he was cool right up until he learned how to speak."

"Yeah, I figure that's the point most people fall out of love with their younger siblings," Percy responded, trying to bring a casual and joking tone to their unusually serious conversation.

Triton plowed through his attempt. "I thought that would happen with you and Tyson. I figured he would start walking and talking and you would move on like I did," he admitted. "And I guess you never did."

"I guess I never did," Percy parroted with a small shrug. "I couldn't."

Triton took the time to break his gaze from his phone and look at Percy, and so he felt compelled to put down his phone. "You're better than I am," he said in earnest, before frowning. "But if you tell anybody I said that, or any of the shit I said about Chrys, I'll deny it and call you a liar."

Percy felt his heart rate slow at the return to form. He smiled. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

The rest of their private time passed in silence, and when their two hours expired, they left the room silently, both privately stocking away the moment so their relationship could continue on normally.

* * *

One thing about Triton that people often forgot was that he never really forgot anything. Everything that ever had even the most minute of effects on Triton stayed in his mind and stewed until he was ready to unleash the pent up fury stored in his slight form. It was a wonder that he didn't swell from all the anger trapped within.

Triton attracted an odd sort of person. Like Luke, Triton dated men and women indiscriminately, but unlike Luke, his standards were absolutely abysmal.

His first fling was with a woman named Kelli, six years his senior, who cheated on him four times before Triton broke up with her. Not because of the cheating, but because he felt after she moved to Boston, the distance was tearing them apart. The relationship would have steamrolled the heart of the average teenager, but Triton picked himself up immediately and started looking again.

A string of broken relationships a mile long trailed behind Percy's older brother, and the latest failure was a true marvel.

Ares Olympia, the son of Zeus Olympia, the prodigal son who abandoned his father's corporation to work with Luke's grandfather. In terms of drama, Ares had it all, but in terms of good character traits, he was an empty barrel. He was one of the dumbest people Percy had ever met, not to mention the fact that Ares absolutely despised him for various reasons. Triton broke up with him because he got used to Ares rough-and-tumble attitude.

When a coin lost its shine, Triton had the habit of tossing it to the curb.

 **-o0o-**

 **BUT WHO WAS KRONOS CASTELLAN?**

Kronos Castellan was a hard man to pinpoint, seeing as every defining act he made was somehow the exact opposite of something he said, and vice versa. If his goal was to seem mysterious and unsolvable, he had succeeded far beyond the point of victory.

He took control of his father's company at a young age, ambitious and arrogant, but skilled enough to back up every ounce of cockiness. His father's untimely death brought up questions, but not enough to be more than the whispers of crazed conspiracy theorists. After all, what kind of depraved man would kill his own father for material wealth?

He had only once child with the love of his life, a lovely woman named Rhea, who had eyes like the leaves on bursting summer trees. When she died giving birth, he never really forgave the child, a lovely baby girl named May.

More on her later.

Kronos realized early on that his father's downfall was his inability to roll up his sleeves and throw a few swings, something which he found no issue with. He fit right in with the big-name executives who ruled the legal and illegal aspects of life, his finesse and suave demeanor elevating him to a level others could only ever hope to reach.

If the mafia still had the strength it once did, Kronos would have been a rival to fear. He had to fear of causing trouble, tied loose ends with bullets, and laundered money with the best of them.

He met Poseidon Jackson through a shared acquaintance, Oceanus Ponturas, who handed him the (then) young man's business card with a sly grin and a quick head shake. _The boy is phenomenal,_ he promised. _His skill as a hit man is unrivaled._ And after a few brief employments, their work together was finished.

When Triton was born, Poseidon stowed away his weapons and employed himself on the docks. His once lavish world fell to a dull mockery of what it used to be, but what kind of man would continue fighting with a child in tow?

Lady Luck favors the bold. And Poseidon's decision to step out of the limelight angered her beyond belief. When Percy, his dearest son, turned twelve, he met and charmed a boy who went to the same middle school as him, slightly older and just as mischievous, accused just as often of being up to no good. Luke Castellan.

When Luke invited Percy to his house, in which he normally lived alone, he didn't expect his grandfather to be visiting. Kronos' eyes breezed over his new friend with a familiarity he wasn't sure he liked, and with one of his patented smiles, he grabbed Percy by the neck and dragged him into his world.

The boy didn't put up a fight.

 **-o0o-**

"My life is a mess," Percy muttered under his breath, digging around for a smile. Smiling made everything better, right?

It always happened when he thought about his family, about his friends, about his _future._ He tried not to, and living in the moment usually wasn't an issue for him, but he couldn't avoid it forever. He was practically a criminal, one of his best friends was inheriting the criminal conglomerate of the century, and somehow, he was supposed to make his father's name proud without becoming as hollow as the man himself.

He was at a disadvantage from the start.

The real world didn't have scary, golden eyed men with aspirations big enough to kill for. The real world didn't have functional marriages after god knows how many affairs. The real world didn't have a spot for useless, ADHD, dyslexic Percy Jackson. And that was the scariest thing in the fucking world.

"What?"

Percy stiffened in surprise, spinning around to see Nico standing near the bathroom door. "Did you say something?" He asked, and Percy felt his shoulders relax. Everyone he knew was tangled up with him in some obscure fashion. Except for Nico. The rest of Nico's family felt strange and fake, but something about Nico was undeniably _real,_ and that was a good anchor.

"Nah," Percy responded, because what was he supposed to say?

"Oh," said Nico awkwardly, and Percy cursed himself for making the moment uncomfortable, not allowing anything but a sweet grin to slip onto his face. He noticed that when he was shot down, Nico fell into a haze of awkward tension, no matter who he was talking to. At first, he thought it was just him, but he saw Nico react the exact same way with Hazel, then with his father, then with his dog.

"Yeah," Percy said casually, ready to get the conversation flowing naturally again. "So, tell me, what exactly does one do during 'family game night'?" He asked, walking down the stairs with Nico in tow. Nico brightened.

"Well," he said enthusiastically, and Percy found it hard not to adore how much he cared about his family, "there are a lot of different board games in the winter that we all get way too competitive with, but since it isn't too chilly, we're going out in the yard to play outdoor games."

(A small footnote: Percy was wrong. Nico's enthusiasm was not, in fact, for his family. It was because a certain attractive romantic interest decided to genuinely care about something that he himself also enjoyed.)

"Huh," said Percy, shaking his head. "I keep forgetting you have a yard. Having an urban apartment will do that to a guy, I guess," he said jokingly, nudging Nico with his elbow. He was surprising warm. Percy himself had what was referred to as an abnormally low body temperature, but not by much. Still, Nico seemed shockingly hot.

"Well, get ready to frolic in some grass," Nico said. Percy stopped suddenly, turning to look at Nico with a perfect poker face.

"Nico," he said seriously, enjoying the way Nico's eyes widened as he started wondering what exactly he was supposed to do, "is that a euphemism for drug use?"

Nico couldn't remember the last time he laughed so hard, the kind of laugh that made his abdominal muscles sore and sent his mind blank.

But unfortunately for him, he also could remember a time that he had ever liked another person as much as he liked Percy Jackson.


	4. Puppy Love

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Apology A.N. at the bottom. also I totally fuckin lied this whole thing is internalized love and im sorry**

* * *

Percy was just about to follow Nico's happy attitude out the back door when his phone buzzed.

Nico heard it too, somehow, and Percy shot him a sympathetic glance before pulling out the device and tapping the screen a few times. "Ah... I'll be right there, okay? I just gotta answer this real quick."

Nico seemed curious, and Percy thanked any god that might exist that he didn't ask the questions hanging off the tip of his tongue. As the Italian boy smiled and gently closed the door behind him, Percy glanced down at his phone worriedly. There were very few people with his phone number, and even fewer who thought to contact him on a regular basis.

Of course, he would receive the occasional _Do your homework_ from Annabeth or _dDud tll im no drunk .! im nOYT OKAI_ from Thalia, but when he saw Luke's name flashing across his screen, he knew it was one of two things.

(Nico, however, did _not_ know that, and when he saw Luke Castellan's name stretched across the phone of his crush, his heart exploded into a thousand tiny pieces of sand, which he desperately attempted to pull together to no avail. The organ kept slipping through his fingers, and his eyes were continually drawn to the boy staring down at the phone in his palm.)

Luke either needed his help with something ("Hey man, I hate to be a bother, but my hand is stuck in the wall. Ha!") or he was looking for somewhere to stay for the night so that he didn't need to fear his grandfather's cold hands wrapped around his neck as he slept, only to remember that Percy was no longer in his apartment anymore. Percy bit his lip, caught between his two worlds.

Usually they didn't revolve so close to each other.

 **Can I stay with you? I'll tell you the details later man.**

Percy's heart fell at the message, and he read the second message lined up on his screen with a frown.

 **Oh shit I forgot nvm I'll be fine alright don't worry I'll call Anne Beth or something**

 _Something bad must have happened,_ Percy realized, acutely aware of the prickling feeling crawling up and down his spine like a drop of cold water. Luke, for all of his outspoken boldness and obnoxious showboating, valued grammar surprisingly highly, meaning that he rarely (if ever) let auto-correct get the best of him. The entirety of his second message was an elongated piece of trash, and the tar pit that was Percy's stomach began to heat up.

 **dude its fine if u stay at my place you have a key but if that doesnt work call thalia not annabeth shes busy with malcolm this weekend i think**

(It never needed to be said, but Percy had turned off any and all auto-corrections, shortcuts, and even predictive text because they all distracted him. His wording, grammar, and spelling sometimes found much to be desired, but he had long since memorized the placement of the keys on a keyboard. It was a necessity, seeing as many of his papers needed to be typed. He couldn't rely on Annabeth for _everything.)_

No response.

Percy wondered if the sickening pity/worry he felt was the same feeling Thalia described after she watched Annabeth have a panic attack. With a sigh, he drew himself up to full height, pasted on a smile, and shoved his phone into his pocket.

Huh.

Maybe swimming wasn't his calling. He was getting so good at wearing a mask, he might just belong on Broadway.

 **-o0o-**

"What's taking that kid so long?" Ephialtes grumbled, staring at the volleyball net longingly. Arion rolled his eyes, refusing to lose his character even if he wasn't allowed to go off on his brother.

"It's only been 45 seconds," he said. Ephialtes shot him a scathing look, the kind that melted most people on sight but only served to make Arion even more discontent. The third-oldest Jackson child was tired, and above all, he was absolutely _done_ sharing a room alone with Triton. Honestly! Ephialtes was younger than Arion, so _he_ should have been rooming with that Thanatos guy. But no.

After 12 matches of rock-paper-scissors, through which Ephialtes won a measly 3 rounds, it was decided that he would have to stay with Triton. Alone.

This was not to say that there was anything wrong with Triton, because there _wasn't_ anything enormously wrong with him at all. Not, of course, that he would _ever_ admit that. At the very least, he was no more difficult to be around than the others. It was the potential consequences that caused so much anxiety.

Being 'mean' to most of his brothers was a one-way ticket to Annoyance Town, population _him,_ and it usually wasn't even worth it.

(Of course, being mean to Chrysaor was damn near impossible, since he could rarely hear insults over the sound of his shitty welding projects.)

And then there was Triton. One wrong move, and he was telling Poseidon, and Amphirite, and the fucking national guard. Up too late? Amphirite was ready to tear you down, boxing gloves on, both legs in the ring. Up too early? Amphirite was already glaring at you for waking her baby boy up, applying war paint and sharpening an ax. Mention in passing how irritable Triton could be?

Run. Leave your home and _run._

"Look, here comes Boy Wonder now," said Chrysaor with a long yawn. Ephialtes wasn't sure what exactly was keeping Chrysaor awake at night; usually Tyson was the one who was too hyper to quiet down and sleep. Maybe it was one of his dumb papers or projects for school. He seemed to have a lot of those, and he actually _did_ all of them, for whatever reason. "And not a minute too soon."

The younger di Angelo kid (Nick? Nate? Something like that,) seemed weirdly antsy.

He kept bouncing from foot to foot, clearly a nervous habit, and in a way it reminded Ephialtes of the way opponents who were about to face him acted. Slightly nervous (he was 6'5", after all, and he had an admirable yet stocky build, if he could say so himself), searching eyes, tongue darting out to wet his lips too frequently to be considered normal. All textbook signs of people who were about to engage in a fight.

Eh, better not to be worried. Percy could take the kid no problem, anyway. At a glance, Nico (if that _was_ his name - Ephialtes had always been horrible with names) was definitely taller than Percy, and he certainly had some muscle, but Percy knew how to fight unfair. And fighting unfair is what won _real_ fights.

But then again, he was probably reading too far into the situation anyway. He Ephialtes tended to apply the rules of wrestling to every aspect of life.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting! Small emergency," Percy said sheepishly, and Poseidon waved him off. It wasn't fair, how his father always seemed to forget _anything_ that Percy did wrong. The kid could rob a bank, and Poseidon would nary blink an eye. While it was true that he was pretty harsh on Percy sometimes about the 'family business' (why he cared so much about the docks was a mystery), he also seemed to be his father's favorite.

Why?

What had Percy done in his life that none of the other kids had done before him? Was it because he reminded Poseidon the most of himself? Even then, it was only in outer appearance. Ephialtes cursed his mother, not for the first time in his life.

Damn her dominant genes.

"So, teams!" It was the Bianca girl who said it, clapping her hands together and glancing around with assessing eyes. "Now, just so our new guests know, I'm in charge of deciding who goes on which team. It's always more fair if I do it." Ephialtes didn't doubt that. From what he understood, Bianca was the perfect child prodigy, back for a small break from her first year at a prestigious college.

In many ways, she reminded him of what Triton may have become if his brother wasn't filled with so much frustration. Ephialtes shoved the thought into the corner, crossing his arms and turning instead to Bianca. He _never_ thought about his siblings so much. Whatever was happening to him probably had something to do with the di Angelo house's voodoo magic that had Triton acting all _calm_ and shit.

Because god forbid he actually started to care about them.

 **-o0o-**

"I wanna be on Percy's team!"

Tyson was an easily excited child, always had been, but above all, he adored his older brother. Percy always knew what to do and say to make him feel better. On Bring Your Parent to School Day, Tyson didn't _want_ to bring Poseidon or Amphirite. He didn't care if they knew about what went on at school. So he asked Percy to come instead.

Of course, he didn't _tell_ Percy it was Bring Your Parent to School Day. He said it was a tour. And when Percy showed up, it seemed that more than a few parent assumptions were proved 'correct'. After all, Percy was the only one to show up for the class recitals and plays that Tyson was a part of.

So, instead of having Percy talk about his career to the class, the principal (who seemed rather sympathetic) allowed Tyson to walk Percy around the school and show him all of his favorite places and describe what he did every day. Percy seemed a little miffed at first, muttering that 'there's no way I look old enough to be your dad, Tyson,' but he still listened to everything he said.

(He also bought him a poetry book when Tyson told him how much he enjoyed the unit on rhyming, like the amazing brother he was.)

It didn't bother him, though. He almost _wanted_ people to think that Percy was his only relative. He kept that to himself, though.

Percy didn't like it when he said things like that. _They don't mean to be hurtful, Ty,_ he said. Sometimes, when he was feeling annoyed at the rest of the family too, he would pinch his scarred fingers around his nose and ruffle his other hand through Tyson's hair, saying, _Resentment and love aren't always separate, buddy. You don't have to be happy with people all the time._

Tyson didn't really get that. Why did Percy defend his brothers if he was just going to admit that he hated them in the end? It was confusing, but it also made him happy that he was the only one who Percy ever talked to in such a way.

With all of that in mind, Tyson turned his enormous, warm, melted-chocolate eyes upon Bianca, pleading. "Please?" He begged, and the girl bit her lip. And sighed. A grin spread on Tyson's face. The sigh was the ultimate sign of defeat.

"Well..." she trailed off, slipping a small piece of paper out of her pocket. Tyson rather admired her pocket; it seemed to lack holes, which was a major plus in his experience. Illegible scribblings were etched on the other side of the slip of paper - Tyson could see their shadows. "I suppose if I switch out you and Nico, it would be alright. After all, your brothers all seem rather athletic. I don't see an issue at all!"

Tyson could have imploded because of all of the happiness coursing through his veins.

 **-o0o-**

Nico could have imploded because of all of the disappointment coursing through his veins.

The night before, he had spoken with Bianca about the teams, nonchalantly recommending that he was placed with Percy in order to grow closer to him. Bianca, being the ever graceful and kind sister she was, immediately placed them on the same team together. It was a perfect opportunity to show his crush that he could be a team player.

 _Wow,_ Nico thought to himself regretfully. _I can't believe I'm being cockblocked by a ten year old. I also can't believe that kid got Bianca to bend to his will. He's gotta teach me that!_

Any anger Nico felt melted away into puddles of nothingness when he glanced over to Percy again and saw him high-five his little brother with both hands, grinning as the boy hopped up onto his back and got comfortable.

* * *

The teams were as such: Triton, Thanatos, Nico, Amphirite, Hades, Bianca, and Arion, versus Percy, Chrysaor, Ephialtes, Persephone, Poseidon, Hazel, and Tyson. Triton, graceful as ever, opted out of being a starting player.

(His exact words were actually, "I personally volunteer to sit out first. For the whole game, if necessary. I suck.")

Percy's own team was having a harder time deciding who had the honor of sitting out of the game, manning the grass next to Triton and keeping score. "Not me," Ephialtes said adamantly, left eye twitching without his permission. "I have to _live_ with that guy," he said, whisper flowing through clenched teeth. Persephone looked at Poseidon, as if looking for the answer to a question that would never be asked by Percy's father.

"It wouldn't be fair to make me do it," Chrysaor said similarly. "I barely get to have any time off from school, just like Bianca. Neither of us should have to spend any of our free time away from potential bonding activities." Tyson sent Chrysaor a look, then pouted grandiosely.

"Come onnnnn, Chrys," he whined, eyes wide. Percy placed his hand on Tyson's head, fluffing up his hair and effectively ruining the puppy dog face he had going. Percy cleared his throat. He didn't want any animosity, especially not towards Tyson, and so he would step out. He didn't see why it was such a big deal, really; the teams were going to rotate.

"I can-" "I will," Poseidon interrupted Percy's words, and the breath caught in his lungs when his eyes met his father's. They didn't look as shattered and dull as before. Not shining, exactly, but there was that _spark_ that was usually only there when he won a good argument or had a successful day at the docks. Percy felt personally blessed, the same feeling that the people of olde probably had thrust upon them when they discovered fire.

"T-Thanks," Percy said awkwardly. He knew that technically, Poseidon had only stepped off of the plate to stop a potentially bad situation, and that him doing so benefited the entire team, but he couldn't help but feel that the gesture was meant for him in some way.

"You kids almost ready over there?" Arion jeered, snapping Percy's head out of the fuzzy cloud it found itself lodged in.

"Yeah, we're eager to win!" Much to Percy's surprise, the responder was not, in fact, Ephialtes, but the idol child Bianca. Her face was set in a playful smirk, but her obsidian eyes held a flowing quality that reminded him of Zoe Hesperide, one of his oldest friends. That glint in Zoe's eyes usually meant hell was about to be unleashed.

Considering the dread he had felt initially, he had a feeling similar to remorse when he glanced around. They weren't bad, really. And it wasn't their fault they had been assigned to his family.

"Go to the crows!" Tyson shouted playfully, and Percy turned to send a quick glare at anyone in his vicinity; _he_ hadn't taught his brother language like that, and that meant that one of _them_ must have. _Well,_ he thought to himself, _I had language way worse than that when I was his age._

He couldn't fight every battle.

"Who's serving?" He asked instead, and Bianca's grin widened, spinning a ball that she seemed to conjure out of thin air on her long finger.

"Who's receiving?" She asked rather than answering, tone light but competitive. Percy felt his lips pull up; if she wanted to play a real game, he knew who would win. His team had himself, Chrys, _and_ Ephialtes; the Jacksons went to their sand-filled, spider-ridden cabin together every single summer to swim in the freezing ocean and play beach volleyball.

It was their one family tradition. Well, there was a Christmas tradition too, in the fact that everyone woke up early to take their family photo. One a year, to record the growth of every member. But the only one that he cared about was going to the Montauk cabin.

"You think you can trip us up?" Ephialtes shouted, making a big show of cracking his knuckles and shaking out his wrists. Percy rolled his eyes but appreciated the sentiment. His older brother had the same faith in his team that Percy had. Or, at least, he had faith in himself. The latter was infinitely more likely.

"Our family is quite good at volleyball," Hades said, signature soft spoken voice holding a confident, proud edge. Out of the corner of his eye, Percy saw Poseidon shift his posture; either he wanted to say something (probably along the lines of being better) or he was regretting stepping out and wanted to annihilate the other team.

"I'm seeing a lot of talk, but not a whole lot of playing," Percy piped in, finally, wanting to start the game.

Bianca started the game off with a mean overhand serve.

 **-o0o-**

Bianca started the game with her classic serve, and Nico's eyes immediately drew to Percy, as if dragged by the magnetism of the boy's personality. His snarky little comment was so offhand, but since Lou pointed it out, it was impossible to ignore the fact that he simply adored everything that Percy did. His mind automatically glorified every single move.

Okay, well, _that_ move didn't even _need_ to be glorified.

Percy reached forward, limber shoulders flowing like a river as he bent to receive the ball, briefly calling out to acknowledge that he had it covered. Ephialtes (who chose these people's names? Then again, his eldest brother was named Thanatos, so he supposed he didn't have much room to talk) was already in position to set the ball into a better position for Chrysaor.

(Once again, the _names._ Percy called him Chrys, pronounced 'Chris'. Why would he have such an obscure name if they were just going to use a normal nickname?)

His loose t-shirt pulled up with his follow through, revealing a tan expanse of skin. On the top of his right hip, where his sweatpants were rolled but slipping just a fraction of an inch, Nico almost catches a patch of pure, inky black, a tiny detail he wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been watching his crush like a hawk.

His _crush._ The childish word left an oily taste in his mouth, and every time he thought it he could picture Lou's ugly cackle, the one she did when she knew she was right and nobody could debate against her.

Nico's eyes widened as his thoughts come plummeting back to earth, much like the volleyball heading right towards him. _Christ. They really weren't lying about being good at volleyball._

If Nico had been a) slightly smaller or b) any worse at athletics, he would've gotten absolutely pummeled by the volleyball, but instead he managed to return the insanely strong wing spike, his reception slightly askew, thankfully saved by the elegance of Bianca's setting skills. Arion slammed the ball back over the net, apparently feeling the competition as well.

This time, Hazel received the ball, thin arms sending it towards Percy. He lifted both arms to set the ball gently, sending it right to Tyson. Bianca smiled, and Nico could feel it, the warmth and assurance that came whenever his sister felt happy.

Tyson jumped. Tyson jumped a good foot (probably more) in the air, absolutely _destroying_ the ball as it tipped the net and hit the ground slightly behind Arion.

Arion, for his part, scowled.

"Hey!" He yelled, grabbing the ball and throwing it over the net to Persephone. "I thought we were playing a nice, fun game, not trying to rip off my epidermis!"

"I wasn't _trying_ to do anything," Tyson said stubbornly, flashing his tongue in Arion's direction, before crossing his arms. Persephone was gaping at Tyson, and Nico realized then that he was too. _How the hell did he do that?_ "If you thought that was bad then maybe _you_ should sit out and Triton should play instead."

Triton snorted from the sidelines as Arion reddened. "Words can't describe how horrible I am at volleyball," Triton said conversationally. "That's a real insult, ladies and gents."

Nico sighed.

He was just starting to realize what one of the problems was with the Jackson family, or maybe, what their only problem was. There really wasn't much else at all that seemed even remotely suspicious, but there was always a foreign tension between the members, the kind usually found between a teacher about to hand out a pop quiz and a student that knows that they haven't done their reading.

Percy's eyes edged over in the direction of his father, who, from somewhere, had procured a pair of sunglasses as if the meager light from the setting sun was too much to handle. Percy made a small gesture with his hand, almost as if saying _what the fuck._

Poseidon shrugged. _Not my problem._

Percy seemed to deflate. That was a perfect example of the aforementioned tension, which stopped Percy from pushing, but also prevented Poseidon from reaching out. But every family had flaws like that, and Nico didn't know why the Jacksons deserved to have a light shined all over their private issues.

Or maybe that was just because he didn't want Percy to have to endure the pain of having all of his problems sliced and diced by the system.

Wow.

Everything really did seem to source back to his unfortunate emotional situation regarding one Perseus Jackson, but that really couldn't be helped. The only remedy seemed to be avoiding the topic until it couldn't be avoided anymore, a sound and reasonable problem solving technique that he had been using for ages. It only failed him almost every single time, but not everybody could be a Bianca.

"So... are we going to keep playing?" Persephone asked softly, in her flowery voice. Percy nodded, a smirk back on his face. Nico's heart pounded - he was sure Percy could hear it, and _damn_ if it wasn't annoying as hell that even the tiniest of grins evoked such a response from him.

The rest of the game was sure to be full of the best kind of suffering.

* * *

 **4 Hours Later...**

Percy's feet ached sweetly, the kind of gentle pain that struck his bones with every step he took, and told the story of his day. He'd had a good day, and the fact that he was so tired (yet oddly satisfied) meant that he'd lived almost another 24 hours without snapping in half like a brittle tree branch.

No, Triton was more the tree branch type. He was... well, Percy was never really sure what he was.

The game had been fun. A little bit too competitive by his standards, but fun nonetheless, and it had been nothing short of amazing to see the coherent teamwork between Nico, Bianca, and Hades. They didn't even seem to see it, either; they naturally reached for each other like moths to a flame.

 _Ephialtes did that for you; and you did that for Tyson,_ he reminded himself, only to brush the thought off. No, Ephialtes didn't do that for _him,_ and Tyson was different. Ephialtes just wanted to win. He didn't care about Percy, and Percy couldn't exactly fault him there. There wasn't much love in his family.

And that had never bothered him. After all, his best friends were Luke _'my family is as huge a mess as yours'_ Castellan, Thalia _'I am in a constant state of familial confusion'_ Grace, and Annabeth _'my parents push the multitude of problems their relationship brings onto me'_ Chase. But living with Nico... it almost made him feel like there was something wrong with his family.

(By extension, that meant _him._ There was something wrong with _him.)_

Nico walked into his bedroom. Or, Percy supposed, _their_ bedroom, since they were to be sharing it for awhile longer. A _long_ while longer, really. "Hey," he said amiably, pulling off his socks as he walked over the his bed. Percy was sitting on the air mattress on the ground, lost in his thoughts, but he quickly snapped back into reality.

"Hey!" He said cheerfully, cracking his shoulders before lying down on his stomach stretching out and opening his boring book to a page number that looked appealing to his dyslexic brain. "That game was really fun. Sorry that we beat you guys so hard, though," he teased. Nico snorted, rolling his amber eyes.

"Please," he said. "You were only 5 points ahead. That's not that many," he argued, and Percy raised an eyebrow to look at him skeptically.

"With the way those maniacs were playing," his voice was dry, "it's a pretty good score gap. Anyway, I'm sorry we took it so seriously too. But the Jacksons are a beach family; volleyball is kind of our sport."

"I was wondering how you were all so good," Nico muttered, biting his lip to keep from smirking. "You... Tyson really seems to look up to you."

(Nico wanted to slap himself in the face for that weak comment. But he really, really wanted Percy to keep talking, and bringing up Tyson was a surefire way to get him to ramble.)

"Really? You think so?" Percy said, eyes widening. He fooled around with his thumbs for a second before sighing. "I mean... I really love him, you know? In a family, you're close to everybody, but there's always one person that you're the absolute closest with. Believe it or not, the person right after Tyson is Triton," Percy said, worming tiny white lies into story to make it seem more believable rather than accurate.

"Triton?" Nico asked, shell shocked. "As in the Triton who snarks you every single second of every day?"

"Why do you think he gets so defensive?" Percy posed, stifling a yawn. "He knows that I know too much about him. If I ever decide to turn on him, there's so much potential trouble that he could get into. I wouldn't, but he doesn't need to know that." He smirked devilishly, sending Nico a tiny, conspiring wink. Nico clicked off his bedside light quickly to avoid allowing Percy to see his face, lit up red like a firetruck.

From the ground, Nico heard Percy rummaging around to find his flashlight (he fell asleep significantly later than Nico, since he had to read his horrible book to do so) before clicking it on. He shined it on his face, laughing lightly. "I'm tired too," he said, voice every shade of warm, "but next time, let me grab this first."

"Sorry," Nico said, keeping humor in his voice rather than yearning, because how creepy would that be? He even let out a fake yawn, just to be convincing. "But... good night."

"Night," Percy said casually, and Nico almost felt giddy; Percy had a routine in the di Angelo household now, and Nico was part of it. He was an undeniable part of Percy Jackson's life. _But now you have to fall asleep even though you aren't tired at all._

It was worth it.

Nico drifted out of consciousness to the tune of Percy's turned pages.

* * *

 **AN: Sorry for being away so long. I don't have an excuse - I was just enjoying the summer sun against my closed shades, I guess. Anyway, I know that the setting of this story may be confusing, so here it is:**

 **-I'm pretty sure there's going to be a bittersweet ending but hey I'm clearly not planning this**

 **-please don't give me shit about it being warm enough to play volleyball in November because fuck my lack of planning is why**

 **-I know there isn't much about Percy's feelings, but keep in mind that Percy is very family-oriented right now; as soon as he realizes why the hell he keeps feeling so happy around Nico, you'll be drowning in his feelings aight**

 **-also... Percy in canon has legitimately zero self worth so i'll be delving into that world**


	5. It's Not Summer Yet You Dunce

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

 **A/N: Sorry this is so late I'm a lazy piece of cabbage and I deserve to BURN**

* * *

Percy was nervous is a way he wasn't quite used to.

The period away from school had been fun, but he still had to go back. His nerves usually acted up when he had to return home anyway, the anticipation building up until he walked through the doors of his high school and remembered that while he would never actually _enjoy_ himself, perhaps the linoleum tiles and water-stained ceiling weren't exactly as hellish as he'd imagined.

Except now he had Nico to worry about. Were they friends now? Were they going to stop each other in the hallway and chat about their plans? Or were they just acquaintances who felt it was acceptable to pass each other with a nod? Were they going to pretend that they didn't know each other? There were too many option to keep track of, and Percy's mind was cluttered with the possibilities.

He liked to keep people in clearly marked off boxes, so that he could gracefully glide through school instead of tripping over his own feet at every turn like he used to. Small-talk and a friendly smile were enough to appease his swim team teammates. He was public friends with Luke and Thalia, and secret friends with Annabeth. Everyone else got an admittedly detached version of his best side - the side that was always willing to lend a hand and share a good laugh over a mediocre joke.

Even Nico's _friends_ were easier to classify than the guy himself; they were acquaintances now, due to their shared class and the fact that they probably (definitely) knew about his current home arrangement, meaning that a sign of positive recognition in the hallway and an occasionally muttered, _"How have you been?"_ should be suitable.

When he thinks about where Nico stands, what Nico is to him, his head hurts like he's trying to dissect one of Annabeth's research papers without his ADHD medication.

After Percy started sharing a room with Nico, his lungs felt trapped in his body, as if breathing was suddenly a challenge. He was probably just allergic to something in the room; if Nico wore any kind of cologne or body spray, maybe that was it. He used to get the same feeling around Luke when they first met, but it went away as they spent more time together, allowing his body to build a resistance to whatever it was it disliked.

(He hoped the same thing would happen with Nico in time. He also secretly hoped that Nico would want to be friends; he loved his current friends, but none of them could be considered remotely sane, and when he was around Nico he felt grounded and secure in a way that was foreign but not unwelcome.)

He glanced away from the slowly ticking clock, leaving its position at 5:31 and transitioning to 5:32, and let his eyes trail over to Nico, who was still snoring in bed. He closed his eyes.

Percy was nervous in a way he wasn't quite used to. Maybe that wasn't such a horrible thing.

 **-o0o-**

When Nico opened his eyes he was glancing directly at Percy, who was sprawled across his makeshift bed with his Greek book bent over his head. He almost laughed but stopped himself when he saw the time; it was only 6:30. School started at 8:00, but he liked to get up early and eat breakfast with his family. Percy didn't need to wake up so early if he didn't want to.

Nico closed his door silently on his way out, or as silently as he could. Inhaling through his nose, he smelled the delicious food Hades was preparing for breakfast. His father loved to cook when he could find the time, which was truly a blessing, seeing as Persephone was oddly inept. When it came to baking, nobody had her beat, but with anything _but_ baking, she only seemed able to destroy everything in her path.

She could probably burn down the kitchen preparing a bowl of cereal.

"Nico! Good morning! Where's Percy?" Persephone placed a kiss on the top of his head, and he smiled. He knew plenty of teenagers who disliked their parents on principle, ("God, Mom! It's not a _phase!_ I'm not going to regret this!") but Nico wasn't one of them. Even when they tried to pry or got overprotective, he knew it was only because they cared.

This was not to say that he always _answered_ when they pried, or that he _enjoyed_ it, but he understood why they did it. They had been teenagers too once, and he knew from the stories they told that neither had been a dream child. Hades once said that he shuddered when he imagined Nico behaving the way he did at his age.

"Percy's still sleeping," Nico replied, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Didn't see a good reason to wake 'im up yet."

Bianca already sat at the table, looking like an actress from an action film about spies. She donned a pair of sunglasses, a black jacket, black knee-high boots, and black gloves, and Nico rolled his eyes at the sight. She always dressed up when she was driving back to college, as if somebody was going to see her. When he brought it up, she only said that it made her feel important.

"Heading back?" The disappointment in his voice was more prominent than he wanted it to be and he almost winced when Hazel sent him a knowing look, though she did have to pick her face up from the table to do it, which removed some of the heat. Bianca was a tough act to live up to, but that didn't mean he wanted her constantly gone. He loved his sister.

"I have to if I want to be back at school in time to study for my midterm," she explained reasonably, and Hazel grumbled.

"If you brought your stuff _here_ you could've studied. Plenty of college students just cram the night before at home, and barely make it back to college in time to take their exam. Don't see why you need to take the high road," she complained, flicking a crumb in Bianca's direction. Hades laughed.

He walked over to the table and dumped a perfect over-easy egg onto Hazel's plate and ruffled her hair. She grumbled louder. "You can't blame your sister for being the only responsible college student at her university," he scolded playfully, and Bianca blushed.

"Dad," she said, lifting her sunglasses up to rest on her head. "Plenty of people do this... I think. I just want to get ahead."

"I know, darling," Hades said, grabbing another egg to make for Nico. "But that doesn't mean you don't break my frail, aging heart every time you leave the house early to go back to your God-forsaken college. One of these days the pain will finally get to me, and then we'll see where your priorities are," he said dramatically, pointing at Bianca with a spatula.

Bianca crossed her arms. "Papa, you know you can't guilt me anymore. I've grown out of falling for your clever tricks."

Hades sighed. "Fine, fine. Here you go, Nico. Sunny side up, like always. You guys think the Jacksons want anything?"

Thanatos trudged down the stairs, feet heavy, "Probably not," he said with a yawn. "Somethin' tells me they're not early risers."

Nico's family was one that invariably fell asleep before 12:00 and woke up before 7:00, so the concept of an entire family that not only stayed up far past midnight but then struggled to wake up before 9:00 seemed otherworldly. Still, all evidence pointed to Thanatos' point.

Thanatos slumped into his chair and stretched, pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

While his siblings talked, Nico couldn't help but wonder when the Jacksons did this. They didn't eat breakfast together, they didn't converse at dinner, and they hardly interacted as a whole, mostly just in pairs and small groups.

He chalked it up to another Jackson mystery.

* * *

"And as the gates of Hell opened wide, a scalding breeze carrying the screams of the damned overtook our brave heroes as they ventured forward past its guiltless mouth!"

Nico didn't know what he was expecting from Thalia Grace. Honestly, all he knew about her was from other people. Each thing he knew could be listed as follows:

 **1\. She was one of Percy's few close friends, so maybe she wasn't... _horrible._**

 **2\. Some of Lou's gossip sources reported her to be "a real slut, don't talk to her if you can help it, you'll probably get STD's".**

 **3\. She was quite possibly the most intimidating person he'd ever seen. She headed 30% of the schools' clubs, many of which were violent, had gunmetal earrings looping all the way around her right ear, a lip right, an eyebrow piercing, and eyeliner darker than the void. These things added up to make a person that he would normally avoid making eye contact with.**

So, with all of that information, he made certain assumptions about her character.

And after officially meeting her, he would need to reconsider his opinion on making assumptions.

"Thalia, people are turning to look at us," Percy said pointedly. "I thought you were trying to lay low."

"Lay low?" Hazel asked, and Nico sent her a look; they weren't very close with Percy, let alone his friends. Much to his surprise, Thalia rolled her eyes not at Hazel, but seemingly at the rest of the known universe.

"Oh, please. Lay low, shmay shmow. If Drew thinks she can ruin my year by telling people I'm a whore that would do anything for a crisp twenty. As far as I see it, the only thing she's doing is making herself look like the petty bitch she is, and besides..." she grinned at Nico and Hazel with a predatory gleam in her eye, "I don't mind people thinking I'm dangerous. I _am_ dangerous."

"You said yesterday that the only solution to her 'horrid lies' was ignoring them and laying low," Percy interjected, sticking to his point, and Thalia waved her arms in the air.

"And I have since revised my strategy. I've decided that the best course of action is fighting. Not physically, because she has six inches on me, but I refuse to take this lying down," Thalia declareded with a casual flip of her hand. "And anyway, I came to the realization that I don't care about what she thinks, or anyone else. I've got _you_ losers," she said, swinging an arm around Percy and Luke.

Her next words struck a cord somewhere deep inside Nico's heart, and he almost tripped over his own foot. "Besides, who cares what trivial shit she wants to tell about me. It isn't like she has any actual dirt on me."

Hazel beamed at Thalia, and Nico could tell already that the punk girl was an idol in the making for his little sister.

Thalia went back to ranting about whatever it was Drew was telling others about her, and Nico tried to stop his head from throbbing in confusion.

He wasn't a fan of judgement, exactly, but there were some things that seemed unquestionably _true_ at school. Even though he'd lightened up, Luke Castellan was a big-mouthed jerk who didn't care about anybody but himself. _And yet he hadn't said a word to interrupt his friends._ Thalia Grace was as dangerous as she was promiscuous, which was to say she was _very_ dangerous. _And yet she was only a harmless teenager, with a flair for the dramatic._

It didn't add up, didn't make _sense,_ because even though he'd heard of people acting a certain way around their friends and a certain way on their own, there was no way such a dramatic difference in perception could be made by the student body. Or maybe he just didn't want to believe that such a gap could exist.

Drew always seemed like a mischievous kitten to Nico. Sure, she ran the rumor mill at Goode High School almost single-handedly, but she merely seemed to be reporting on what she saw, not speculating.

Perhaps the rumor mill wasn't as kind to people with things to hide.

(Perhaps government mandated programs meant to help troubled families weren't as kind to families with things to hide.)

Nico risked a glance to the side, where he caught an unmistakable glimmer in Percy's eye, the one that meant he was about to interject in Thalia's rant with a witty comment. His heart beat double time but he ignored it the best he could, appraising his new roommate in a new light.

Thalia Grace reveled in the limelight of attention despite the negativity of it all because she knew that they didn't have anything real on her.

Percy wasn't stupid. Plenty of people thought that he was, said that his average grades were due more to lack of intelligence than lack of effort, said that he was really only good for swimming, but Nico knew better than that. Percy had to know that he and his family were obligated to tell Athena anything that happened with them.

And if he knew, his family knew.

And if his family knew, they wouldn't do anything inflammatory. They wouldn't let the di Angelos get any real dirt on them.

Suddenly every almost-violent shoulder brush between brothers, every earth-shattering glare, every nervous glance at Poseidon Jackson seemed like a warning sign and not a 'quirky Jackson thing'.

(And that's precisely where Nico was stuck. Percy's life wasn't really his business, was it? It was made his business by an outside force, one that didn't ask Percy for permission. He didn't want to pry, but what if Poseidon was hurting him? What if he was emotionally traumatizing him? How would Nico feel if he let Percy get hurt because he was too afraid to rock the boat and step in?)

Nico's head hurt.

* * *

Nico di Angelo and his sister Hazel fled the moment his friends walked through the entrance of the school. A quick, assessing glance towards Percy told that he wasn't upset, and Luke let his guard down. He got protective over Percy sometimes, not because he didn't think his friend could take care of himself, but because he knew he could.

Sometimes people got so caught up in caring about people who could never care for themselves that they forgot about the pain of the strong ones in the process. Annabeth was strong mentally but fragile emotionally, and though Luke worried about her he found himself worrying more over Percy and his complete lack of dependence on anybody.

(Sometimes his mind whispered cruel things to him, reminded him that _maybe you could be that somebody that he leans on, Luke, you know you want to,_ but then he has to remember that he tried seriously flirting with Percy before and it went exactly nowhere. His grandfather would never accept it anyway; though he adored Percy, Luke would need a relationship with a female so he could have a child to one day take over the family business.)

"He seems nice," Luke said, and Percy nodded.

"He is," he answered simply, shaking his head with a small laugh. "I really worked myself up about this whole situation. You know, I don't think it's going so bad. It'll all be fine." Luke nodded and wrapped an arm around Percy's shoulders, adopting his 'friendly advice' tone.

"If anything changes, remember that you can always come to your dear friend Luke for help, and he'll be able to talk some sense into the di Angelos," he said with a grin, and Percy rolled his eyes.

In a friendly way, of course. He wrapped his arm around Luke's back, and Luke masterfully ignored the jolts that traveled down his back at the feeling. "You sound more and more like your grandfather every day," he said jokingly, and Luke had to work to keep a frown off of his face.

That was a reality he tried hard to ignore, but at the core of it all he knew it was the truth. Percy was getting more like Poseidon. Thalia was getting more like Zeus.

And Luke was getting more like Kronos. In the way that he threw around his name to threaten people almost as often as he made three point shots in basketball, in the way that he expected things to happen the way he liked. They were becoming their role models, except they were closer. He was determined not to let history repeat itself; Zeus' arrogance pushed his children away, Poseidon grew distant by choice, and Kronos stopped caring about... everything.

Thalia would stay. Percy would be his right hand. Luke would never forget about his friends. These were all things that he knew.

His future was never certain. The world was always changing, and maybe his grandfather would be arrested the next day. But if everything went well as it always did due to Kronos' seemingly infinite resources, Luke would have his friends forever.

He snaked his other arm around Thalia, feeling the strength of being united with those closest to him, and pictured Annabeth next to Thalia, a first-generation addition to their line of work.

Luke had always been possessive. But then, his friends were just that; _his._

* * *

 **AN: Alrighty folks, here's the rundown. There's a lot of drama going on in my life right now, but I'm trying to update as often as humanly possible. The reality is that I can't get to a computer as often as I'd like, but eh, I'm doin my best.**

 **I'm editing the entirety of the KnB story I have if any of you follow that, which is why it hasn't updated in awhile.**

 **Once again, I'm very sorry I haven't updated, but my life is busy. Also, in this story it's going to be difficult to decipher who the real antagonist is for some time; the main characters are definitely Percy and Nico, but every character is going to have some time to shine and add their two cents. Even Lou Ellen, whose character I am going to DEVELOP the SHIT out of, so if you're a fan of Asian witches, prepare your bodies.**


	6. What Are 'Feelings?

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Lou was getting out of hand. Nico made a feeble attempt to ignore her all-knowing eyes as he clumsily copied down the constellation chart the astronomy teacher was droning on about, but the more the woman talked, the more he seemed to check out of the class.

It was the arm movements, the kind that tourists always made to try to flag down taxis, that made her impossible to ignore. "Lou!" Nico whispered insistently, giving her a look. She rolled her eyes, glancing offhandedly at the teacher before staring back at him. His eyes slipped down to her manicured hand and the folded up paper flipping like a poker chip between her fingers.

 _Catch,_ she mouthed before sending it flying towards him. Luke wiggled his eyebrows from his seat, looking between he and Lou with a face communicating all the wrong things. Lou rolled her eyes again, only meaner somehow, and Luke smirked.

A match made in hell.

Nico unfolded the note as carefully as possible, wary of the telltale crinkling paper noise that it would make. He felt his shoulders fall as he read the contents.

 **how goes it with your boyfriend my dude  
i gotta say that jackson is lookin FIIIINE today**

He glared. Clicking the back of his pen insistently, he marked down his own message before flicking the note back in his friend's direction. Years of paper football ensured that it landed directly in the center of Lou's desk. _Touchdown._

 **he isn't my boyfriend lou step tf off  
also what is this just text me why involve this risk**

Lou snickered and immediately jotted down her response, passing the paper back.

 **i feel like im in middle school again i like it ok  
besides i dont think we need to worry about anyone  
here figuring us out bud**

Nico glanced around stealthily. Jason was tracing star patterns with concerning accuracy in his grid-lined notebook (Nico winced at how hard his friend tried sometimes), Octavian seemed to be quite involved in a snapchat argument (probably with the Stoll brothers, who recently decided that they would be pulling a weekly prank), Luke was blatantly listening to music (loud enough for him to hear, blasted from oversized _headphones,_ not even _earbuds),_ and Percy was sound asleep, drooling all over his physics homework.

Still, he was feeling particularly vindictive.

Bianca was gone and couldn't temper his attitude, Thanatos' usual omnipresence was being subtly altered by his new friendships with Percy's older brothers, and he couldn't find a moment to relax and think about his crush without Percy actually being three feet away.

He crushed the note in his hand, and locked eyes with Lou as he shoved it in the tiny pocket of his backpack, full of dust and crumbs. _Spoil sport,_ she mouthed, and he shrugged. Better to be a spoil sport than a humiliated teenager who had to read his note out loud to his elderly astronomy teacher.

Though he tried to pretend to pay attention to the teacher, Nico couldn't help but feel drawn to Percy. _He isn't my boyfriend,_ he wrote. But maybe he could be.

* * *

"I'm telling you Percy, you've gotta be there. It's gonna be wild!" Travis and Connor Stoll were pulling their usual tactic of following Percy around until he agreed to go to some party or another. Unfortunately for them, he just wasn't in the mood.

"As much as I'd love to be there," he said with a playful wink, "I'm gonna be super busy for the next few weeks. Y'know, what with swimming practice and stuff." Travis smacked him on the back, and Percy smiled widely.

"Well, the party's open to you if you decide to show up. See you later!"

Sometimes making decisions honestly felt like a tire wrench to his gut. One worrying habit Percy had was recreational drinking, though it truly was a habit and not an 'addiction' or a 'problem'. He would drink if alcohol was available, and he thoroughly believed the action to be better than any other drug. For him, anyway. Alcohol was a depressant and he enjoyed the feeling of slowing down, the subtle cloudiness that overtook his head instead of incessant noise.

But he had too much on his mind. If he drank, he might get up on a table and start reciting sonnets about his...feelings.

The strange sensation around Nico hadn't gone away and he was starting to get worried; it had, as a matter of fact, started to expand. Nico didn't even need to be near him anymore for his life to fall apart; his heart clenched and he could feel his neck flush and he _needed it to stop._

Because if he was sick, who was supposed to take care of his family?

It was time to employ an expert.

 **-o0o-**

"Describe the feeling."

Percy breathed in deeply, the scent of chemicals and mildew filling his nostrils and flushing out any nervousness that was in his mind before. He thanked his lucky stars that the janitor's closet was always so poorly lit; it made his flush harder to see. Or, he hoped it did.

"Bad," he said simply, swallowing. "Like I can't breathe, or think. And... remember when I got into a fight with Ares and he punched me and fractured by ribs? It feels like that, like the moment of impact. Like somebody's just hammering on my ribs, just beating me with a wrench, probably someone who's been angry with me for a long time and let their anger with me grow over the years, and-"

Thalia cleared her throat, smiling gently. "Stay on topic," she said, her voice gentler than usual. Very gentle. _Too_ gentle. Was his disease fatal?

(It was a little known secret that Thalia wanted to be a doctor when she grew up. Only he, Thalia, and Annabeth were aware, due to the unavoidable fact that Luke would think it meant that she wanted to leave him and her father would probably have her committed.)

"Well, that's it."

She raised an eyebrow, the one with the silver piercing in it, and looked like she was about to smile. "That's it? No huge headaches, no tremors, nothing? Just... a feeling in your chest and an inability to breathe?"

"Yes," Percy clarified. Thalia sat silently for a moment, then grabbed his face in her hands and yanked him off of the upside down bucket he was sitting on and towards her.

"Oh, my little boy's growin' up," she cried out in a poor southern accent. "You're not _sick,_ Percy, you're in _love."_

Thalia was positively glowing. Percy, on the other hand, felt all of the blood drain out of his face.

"In _love?"_ He repeated feeling sick.

He couldn't be. Harmless flirting was one thing, but love? Love was stupid and abandoned people when they needed it most. And when he thought about love, he thought about the mother he could barely remember, a shiny, blurry image from his childhood, a broken woman who couldn't keep the man she loved and she thought loved her back.

He saw his father's eyes, empty and cold, and Amphirite's eyes, hopeless and full of an obscure kind of light, the expressions of people who have stopped looking for the end of the tunnel. Because _they_ were in love, or they were supposed to be.

And above anyone else, he saw his brother Triton. He saw the oldest Jackson boy, who got a front seat to his parents failing relationship and got to see the love seeping from their skin until they were empty, who fell in love over and over and never stopped thinking that he just hadn't found the right person.

Suddenly, Percy felt like he was going to be sick. He stood up quickly, and Thalia looked surprised.

"Percy? What's wrong? Percy, talk to me." As he walked out of the closet and towards the bathroom, he shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

"You're wrong," he said simply before entering the boy's bathroom and locking himself in the handicapped stall. He sank against the wall, letting the coolness seep into his skin as he tried to breathe. Because Thalia _was_ wrong. Love _was_ a disease, and it ran in his family.

* * *

"You just need to go for it," Lou said around a mouthful of food. "Really, that's my advice. Just go for it. You're loaded, my man. Invite the guy out for dinner and really go ham."

"That's some piss poor advice," Octavian interrupted, elbowing Lou over a step so he could be right in front of Nico. Nico sighed.

Lou laughed, crossing her arms. "Then what's your superstar advice, Tavy?"

"I'll tell you," he said indignantly. "If this were a perfect world, you wouldn't need to worry about him saying no or never talking to you ever again because you're gay. However, do we really know Percy that well?"

Nico felt the oddest urge to defend his roommate. "He's really nice," he tried, but Octavian put up a hand.

"Plenty of nice people don't approve of gay people. Polite doesn't mean progressive. So, my advice is to take it slow. Not as slow as you've been going so far, but start off with coffee, something that friends do, not jumping straight into dinner."

"Like I didn't consider that," Lou deadpanned. "His best friend Luke is bisexual. How the hell do you figure he hates gay guys?"

"I'm not saying he hates gay guys, I'm saying he might only approve of Luke because he also likes girls. Also, the question of whether or not he'd date a guy is still on the table!" He looked at Nico. "Slow," he urged.

"Fast," Lou argued.

Nico threw his hands in the air. "You guys are kind of useless, no offense," he said, looking at Jason. He seemed to be outlining his astronomy notes. Nico pulled a face. "Jason, you're a neutral party. Who should I listen to?"

Jason looked up. "Honestly, I haven't been listening, but not Octavian. He scheduled the field for the soccer team over the football team, so he obviously can't be trusted anymore."

Octavian threw his arms in the air, glaring all around. "The soccer team scheduled the field before you, Jason, and Nico," he turned to glare at him, "listen to me. I may not be the master of dating, but I sure as _hell_ have more experience than _this one."_ As he spoke he jabbed his finger in Lou's direction, and the girl placed her hand over her heart in mock outrage.

"First of all, how dare you," Lou began, the rest of her rant falling on Nico's deaf ears as he considered his roommate.

 **-o0o-**

When he walked into their room, it was like walking into a brick wall. The atmosphere was oppressive and hard to stand, and Nico felt oddly out of place in a territory that was technically his own. "Hey," he said weakly to Percy, who was lying face-down on his air mattress, despondent. "Having fun in here?"

"Loads," Percy responded after an appropriate amount of time, sounding worryingly alright. Nico walked further into the room and sat on his own bed, conscious of every noise he made with his shoes and clothes and backpack. When a spring popped under his weight, he physically winced; everything seemed amplified. Perhaps it was his new determination to ask Percy on an actual date.

"So, do y-" "Do you ever-"

Nico began at the same time as Percy, and gave his crush a smile that urged him to talk first. Getting to know his love interest was a big step, according to Lou's online research. Percy cleared his throat, smiling tightly. "Do you ever just want to give up?" Percy asked simply, and Nico shrugged.

"Nope," he said simply, and Percy cocked his head to the side. He continued, seeing the question. "It just isn't who I am, for better or for worse. Honestly, sometimes you _have to_ give up. You can't win every time, and pushing without end is useless," he provided. "But for me it's just too hard. When I fixate on something, I need to see it through."

Percy seemed to be teetering on the edge of stumped. "Never, huh?" He muttered, rubbing his jaw. He locked eyes with Nico, and his entire posture seemed to soften. He laughed under his breath, the kind that was verbal but private, a laugh to be heard but not joined. "That's good."

A stretch of silence followed, but it didn't feel empty. Just as Nico was about to speak, Percy did instead. "You wanna get some coffee tomorrow afternoon?" Nico nodded brokenly, heart hammering against his chest. He imagined he looked like quite the idiot, but the words got caught in his throat. Percy smiled. "Cool."

 _Cool._ Well, that certainly threw a curve into his plans. More extensive internet research would need to be done about what to do if your crush asked you out on a platonic meetup. As soon as Percy left the room, Nico was confronted by two facts, each concerning. For one thing, Percy had never answered his own question about giving up. And for another, his presence alone made Nico forget about his potential family problems.

He fell back upon his bed in a heap, head throbbing. Oh well.

* * *

Thalia almost felt guilty for diagnosing Percy so enthusiastically that morning. For whatever reason he seemed extremely upset by her deduction, and thought she knew she would eventually know, her professional opinion would be more useful sooner rather than later.

(Of course, a tiny part of her professional opinion was a giddy little girl who wanted to know who her previously unfeeling friend had a crush on. They were probably great, because who else would catch his attention?)

She exhaled a cloud of smoke out of her nose and enjoyed the imagery that came with it. With one exhale she was a dragon; she could fly away and go wherever she wanted, hold castles hostage to her flames, decide whose lives were ruined with her breath. With the next she was a goddess among foggy clouds, condensation tickling her arms as she looked down upon a world so inconsequential that she could do anything she wanted and face nothing.

And to think all she was smoking was cigarettes. Granted, she didn't do it often, but sometimes she wondered if her smokes were laced with a little something extra to fill her mind with such visions. Annabeth would probably say that it was her subconscious telling her that it wanted to travel and wander.

Percy would tell her that each of her visions was a life she already lived or something similar that made her want to punch and hug him at the same time. Luke would just cry.

Her thoughts returned her head to Percy's diagnosis. It was odd that he had never had a crush before, seeing as he had met so many people in his short lifetime. It was beginning to get to the point when Thalia was considering him to be asexual, though she was never really a fan of labels. Sexuality was a fluid thing, after all.

She thought it was cute. But thinking about his family, she could definitely see a few misconceptions about love occurring.

After another drag, Thalia threw the butt of her cigarette down into a puddle below her fire escape. Sometimes she fantasized about missing and setting the dumpster below ablaze, an easy mistake, one which would be impossible to trace because everybody smoked in her building. Maybe her life would be easier.

As she slinked back through her window, a small smile graced her face. Maybe her life would be easier if she could leave everything that already existed in it in a cloud of ashes and smoke. But maybe, without all of her chaos, she would be miserable.


	7. Decisions, Decisions

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

 **TELL ME MORE ABOUT THAT BLOND ASSHOLE, WILL YOU?**

When Luke was a little boy, he lived with his mother, and he thought that she had to be the most beautiful woman in the world. She gave him the bright blond hair that made every other mother coo _(Oh, May, just look at those golden locks, he's going to be such a charmer some day, just you wait)_ and had eyes so green and clear that he could imagine the dirt just behind her grassy irises.

His father visited sometimes, but Luke's hatred began to germinate from a young age; it didn't matter how many times his mother told him that the long hours away from home weren't his father's fault. In his young mind, there was no excuse. His older mind would later understand, but not accept. He would _never_ accept his father or his endless stream of apologies.

"We met at one of his meetings, you know," his mother would tell him whenever his father left for some business trip or another. "I was just a waitress serving him his food, dear. Imagine that, the handsome blond businessman coming back the next day to find little ol' me."

Luke _could_ imagine it, because even then he knew that Hermes Olympia was a fickle man. His mother told the story as a romantic one, the heartwarming tale of a poor young woman swept off her feet by a handsome, successful man who left his fiance because he fell in love with her on sight. Luke took it as a warning - a cautionary story promising that his father would never stay committed.

 **-o0o-**

The rapid decline of May Castellan's mental health began at the airport. Luke was seven, and his mother had already been brought into school numerous times to discuss her son's complete disregard for his father. Hermes' plane landed, and May clutched Luke in her arms like a lifeline. "He's home," she whispered, and he knew that the words were more for her than for him.

No sign of Hermes.

Luke felt no disappointment. The game of give and take (and take and take and _take)_ that his father insisted on playing with them was a routine for him. But from where he stood he could hear his mother's heart crack down the center. "Just late, sweetheart, he's coming though, don't you worry."

That night, Luke slept on the floor of the airport, leaned against a carpet-covered divider with his DS pressed into his chest. He was awakened by his mother's shaking, the silent sobs of a woman who knew that her tears were useless but could do nothing to stop them. The seed of hatred that Luke had for his father sprouted.

 **-o0o-**

"I don't _wear_ perfume, Hermes."

Though they were clearly trying to whisper, neither of his parents were doing a very good job of it, and Luke could hardly keep from scowling. Hermes came back, as always, smile chipper and slightly too perfect on his face, hung by the hand of God himself. And Luke seethed. Wanted to tell the man to leave and never come back. But when he saw the way that his mother melted into his arms, he twisted his grimace into a smile.

Of course he cheated. Of _course_ he did, because when did he ever do anything good? Later, Luke's door creaked open, and he felt the depression on his mattress that meant that his father was propped on the end of his bed. He took a few breaths.

"Hey sport, what's going on?" Luke didn't like being called 'sport', not after that mean gym teacher he'd had, and he _hatedhatedhated_ the foreign, flowery scent filling his nose. His mother paused in the doorway, a tired smile on her face, and so Luke smiled too.

"Nothing much."

 **-o0o-**

 _Hermes came back, as always..._ until one day he didn't. No warning, no message, just complete and utter abandonment. Luke didn't care much, but, true to form, his mother cared enough for both of them. Gone were the days of the lovely woman with eyes like spring and a breeze in her hair; her era had passed and in her place stood a pitiful creature weighed down by grief and anger. Swamps replaced lush meadows, and Luke began locking himself in his closet whenever she had her episodes.

 _You look just like Hermes,_ she would scream as she pounded on his door. _Why did you leave me?_ She would ask, pleading, as he pointedly ignored her and focused all of his attention on Mario Kart.

One day he made the mistake of opening the closet early to console a sobbing May, who smashed her beer bottle on his face in a blurrier moment. Her horrified expression gave him a sort of feeling he'd never felt before, a validation so strong that he wanted to scream in victory.

His feelings did not last long, not when the horrible man came to the door.

He introduced himself as _Kronos, my dear boy._

(Kronos Castellan was a hard man to pin down. He had the same blond hair as his daughter and grandson, but his eyes were something entirely new. At a glance they looked brown, maybe amber, but if you got close enough, their color was very obviously gold. His smile appeared less like an expression of happiness and more like a permanent scar that marred his face.

When he met Luke for the first time, he appraised him like an adult, painfully pulled his fingers across his stitched up face, and glared straight into his eyes like a movie villain. Some voices inspire pride, some fear, others respect. Kronos Castellan's voice instilled a feeling of wrongness so ubiquitous that it remained with those who heard it for days, even weeks.)

Luke went without a fight. His mother didn't think she was fit to take care of him anymore, so she called her father, whom she hated, and begged him to help her. Luke packed a duffle bag and loaded it into Kronos' trunk without a complaint, because what else was he supposed to do? When he tried to get in the back of the car, Kronos slammed the door, missing his fingers by a centimeter, and sent him a look. "I am not your chauffeur, boy. Get into the passenger seat."

He complied.

When they both settled in, Luke buckled his seat belt, and Kronos did not. "I have high expectations of you," he said vaguely, pulling his car out of the driveway without so much as a glance behind him. "I have no doubt that you will meet them, but keep that in mind as I teach you how to be a _real_ Castellan."

* * *

 **NOW BACK TO YOUR SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING...**

Percy took a sip of his coffee and struggled to think of what to say before the comfortable silence between Nico and himself ran out. He'd hoped that Nico would start, but seeing as he had done the inviting, it only seemed fair that he dove first.

"So, you're interested in astronomy?" That seemed safe, he supposed, and Nico seemed happy enough to finally be talking.

He shrugged, and Percy let his eyes fall from his face to his shoulders. Nico was unarguably a handsome guy, but Percy had _seen_ handsome before to no effect. "Not really," Nico admitted with a sheepish smile. Brown eyes, deep and clean. His chest constricted. "To be honest, my friends and I only signed up for it to try to get more classes together."

"We've all done it," Percy fake-confided, leaning his face on his hand and blinking twice in quick succession. There was nothing wrong with testing the waters a little. After all, why keep trying if Nico wasn't interested at all?

Nico blushed, and shrugged. "Y-yeah, I guess we have. It's just... not the kind of thing I would think of on my own. Lou's the one who thought of the plan. I thought my guidance counselor was gonna call me to the office and make me confess that I don't actually care about stars or something," he rambled. Percy frowned inwardly, chastising himself for being a dumbass.

The problem with never seriously flirting was that he had no idea what requited interest looked like. What was Nico's response supposed to mean? Was he flustered because he _liked_ what Percy was doing? Or was it the other way around? Or was he just not used to getting flirted with? Another cursory glance crossed the last one off the list, and Percy faked a yawn to see if Nico would initiate some conversation.

"Tired?" He asked. Oh, geez. He was caring, too, and _genuinely_ at that. _You really know how to fish outside your league, don't ya, Jackson? Couldn't you just be happy and keep to those assholes your brother falls for?_

"Just a little," he admitted, and he didn't even have to lie. At Nico's look, he elaborated. "I'm used to sleeping with all the noise of the city, so the quiet is a... new concept. But I'll get used to it pretty quickly."

"If only I snored," Nico joked, and Percy laughed, careful not to let it last too long, making the situation uncomfortable. He didn't want Thalia to be right, and the more time he spent with Nico, the more he realized that she wasn't.

Percy very much _liked_ Nico, but he was sure that saying he 'loved' him was jumping the gun. If somebody offered him a large pepperoni pizza against a chance to marry Nico, there was an 80-20 chance between the two, and the odds were in the pizza's favor. Still, Nico was fun to be around, and even though the thought made him throw up in his mouth a little, maybe he _had_ caught some feelings.

Some more sips of coffee, another bite of muffin.

"What are your friends like?" Nico asked with wide eyes, and Percy smiled despite himself.

"Well," he began, "Luke's a total douche, and there's nothing that can be done about that, but we care about him anyway," he explained. "You gotta love people for who are. And Thalia, she's a genius, you know. She's ranked fourth in her class, and I've never seen her study once. A lot of my friends don't go to our school; Zoe is a dream, Rachel likes to paint us all dying horrifically... I couldn't be happier."

Nico seemed to agree. "Me too. Before I found Jason and Lou Ellen and all the others I didn't think I was ever going to be able to have an enjoyable high school career, but everything seems easier when you have people who won't make fun of you no matter how dumb you act."

"Agreed," Percy nodded, faking a toast before chugging back the rest of his coffee. And finally, he couldn't help himself anymore. "You really are something, Nico di Angelo."

His cafe partner flushed.

* * *

"So?" Lou inquired as soon as Nico sat down the next day at lunch. He and Percy had spent the previous school day ignoring each other, then met up at the local cafe for coffee and a snack, then talked mildly in his room, and when they passed each other in the hallway that morning Percy waved hello. _That was progress._

"So what?" Nico asked coyly. If Lou was going to turn his love life into a spectacle, the least he could do was make her work for her entertainment.

Lou seemed to find his act far less amusing than he did. "So, what happened?"

Nico made a face. "Percy invited me on a friendly get-together, and we talked a little bit, and I think that living in the same room probably made him think about me like a brother. On an unrelated note, I hear the apocalypse is coming soon and I can't wait." He took a bite of sandwich and waited for Lou to comment.

She seemed confused. "Hm," she murmured.

"Hm?" Nico prompted.

"It just seems odd," she trailed along slowly, "that Percy would invite you out after school with no ulterior motives. None at all."

"My life isn't some nineties sitcom, even though you seem to think it is," Nico said. Jason plopped down in the shitty cafeteria chair next to him with his bought lunch in hand (a pile of dry yet molten chicken nuggets soaking in a pool of warm water sprinkled with corn), and Octavian sat next to Lou.

"Why do they always give you more chicken nuggets than me?" Jason asked around a mouthful of corn-water, and Octavian smirked.

"You need to build respect and camaraderie with the lunch ladies. Thank them, be courteous, ask about their days. They like me, so I get more chicken, and mashed potatoes instead of corn," he bragged.

Lou scrunched up her nose. "Tavy, the mashed potatoes are made out of lint and rehydrated skin cells, you know that. And you two need to help me here!"

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Help you with what?" He asked around a mouthful of nugget (it sounded more like _elp oo with hat?)_ and water.

"Convincing me that my pathetic love life is something worth attempting to salvage," Nico said plainly, taking a bite of sandwich. Jason sent his mouth a jealous look, as if his tongue wished the food in his mouth would switch with Nico's.

"It is," Lou groaned. "Look, all I'm saying is that you need to see where this can go, my dude. Let's not forget that _he_ invited _you!_ You didn't even need to initiate first contact, and you're still falling behind? Your chance is gonna be gone if you don't pick it up."

Nico locked eyes with her and sighed. "Lou, I get the concept of making a move, but you don't get it. Making a move on a guy is different if you aren't a pretty girl. There's a level of risk that I don't know if I wanna take yet," he argued, and Octavian nodded approvingly.

"I agree," he piped in. "We shouldn't be pressuring Nico to do anything he doesn't want to. He can move at his own pace, and if Jackson thinks he's going too slow and moves on, then he never deserved him in the first place," he said. Lou glared at him.

Taking a vicious bite of pasta, Lou responded, "Simmons, I wouldn't have asked for your help if I knew you were going to be such a waste of time."

"I hardly think providing Nico with more than one option is a _waste,_ Lou."

"It's a waste if it's working against everything I'm trying to do here!"

"You're being ridiculous, darling."

Lou took a deep breath and raised her right pointer finger, a sign that she was about to go in on Octavian with some _truth,_ but Jason chose then to speak up. And when Jason Grace speaks up, people tend to listen.

(Jason grew up with a single mother who instilled feelings of responsibility and morality so strong in her boy that he became a leader and voice of reason in every group he belonged to. When things got crazy, Jason could sort them out with ease.)

"You both need to stop pushing your ideas onto Nico," he said simply. "He's not an idiot, and he can figure out what to do without you guys pressuring him to be one thing or another. However, I do have something to say, if you want to hear it, Nico." Nico looked at his friend.

"From you? Sure."

Jason ignored Lou's indignant sounds and plowed forward. "Life is all about decisions. With every option you either do or don't, but you can't go back if you regret something. So, if Jackson ends up being a dick and it turns out that you shouldn't have made a move, well, that blows," he began. Nico shot him a look. "But," Jason quickly continued, "if you miss out on asking this guy who you _clearly really like_ on a date, you _will_ be forced to watch him date Phoebe or Silena or hell, maybe even Luke or Travis or anyone who isn't you.

"So before you choose not to do... whatever it is that you want to do because you're afraid of the cons, you need to weigh the pros. What if your window to happiness is with him? What if it isn't, but you figure out what you want _through_ him? Just consider all that before moving on, okay?"

Nico let the advice wash over him before sighing. "And what should I do if things _do_ go horribly wrong?"

All eyes turned to Jason.

He shrugged and popped some corn in his mouth. "I don't know. I'm fresh out of insightful wisdom for today. You can try tomorrow, maybe I'll have something by then."

"Jason!" Lou exclaimed. "You can't just Batista Bomb us with knowledge then close up shop! Why don't you ever help me with _my_ problems with advice like that?" She complained, crossing her arms.

Jason scoffed. "Your problems don't deserve my advice."

"Now you listen here mister-"

Lou's words faded into white noise as Nico watched Percy eat from a few tables away. _Weight the pros._ He could do that.

* * *

 **THE PROS**

 **-** Percy Jackson is, by all standards, a bona fide hottie.

\- Coming out of the closet to date another boy who is also popular at school will lessen any kickback that may occur, not that Nico cares much about what those not in his group of esteemed friends think.

\- His feelings will finally be resolved and he can stop agonizing over them.

\- He _reallyreallyreally_ wants to ask Percy Jackson to be his boyfriend.

 **THE CONS**

\- If Percy Jackson ends up not being gay, they will still need to live together for months.

\- If Percy Jackson ends up being homophobic, he will certainly tell the rest of his family and Nico will no longer feel happy in his own home.

\- If Percy Jackson ends up being gay or bi or anything that would include Nico and isn't interested based on personality or looks, Nico is likely to explode into a million pieces.

* * *

Well, shit. Nico looked up and met Lou's eyes, cutting her off halfway through her rant. A smile spread across her face and she leaned in towards the center of the table. Octavian looked as though he was struggling not to do the same, too prideful for the motion but not so much that he could pretend not to care at all. "And the verdict is...?"

Nico released a deep breath. "Who knows a good way to ask somebody on a date?"


End file.
